SCOTLAND

Universal Credit

Chris Bryant: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland 
	(1)  if he will estimate the cost to the public purse of extending entitlement to NHS prescriptions to all claimants of universal credit once universal credit has been fully rolled out in Scotland;
	(2)  if he will estimate the cost to the public purse of extending entitlement to free school meals to all claimants of universal credit once universal credit has been fully rolled out in Scotland;
	(3)  if he will estimate the cost to the public purse of extending entitlement to NHS dentistry exemptions to all claimants of universal credit once universal credit has been fully rolled out in Scotland;
	(4)  if he will estimate the cost to the public purse of extending entitlement to legal aid to all claimants of universal credit once universal credit has been fully rolled out in Scotland;
	(5)  if he will estimate the cost to the public purse of extending entitlement to court fees exemptions to all claimants of universal credit once universal credit has been fully rolled out in Scotland;
	(6)  if he will estimate the cost to the public purse of extending entitlement to repayment of children's welfare loans to all claimants of universal credit once universal credit has been fully rolled out in Scotland;
	(7)  if he will estimate the cost to the public purse of extending entitlement to education maintenance allowance to all claimants of universal credit once universal credit has been fully rolled out in Scotland;
	(8)  if he will estimate the cost to the public purse of extending entitlement to the energy assistance package, stage 3, to all claimants of universal credit once universal credit has been fully rolled out in Scotland.

David Mundell: The Scottish Government are responsible for defining the entitlement criteria for these passported benefits. They will need to consider the current eligibility criteria and make arrangements to ensure that they can continue to deliver these benefits as universal credit is introduced.
	There is ongoing engagement between the Scottish Government and the Department for Work and Pensions to ensure that any solution is simple, fair, easy to understand and affordable.

CULTURE MEDIA AND SPORT

Broadband

Andrew Selous: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport when he expects superfast broadband to be fully rolled out in (a) England and (b) Central Bedfordshire.

Edward Vaizey: 90% of the UK, including Central Bedfordshire, will be able to receive superfast broadband by early 2016, rising to 95% by 2017.

Broadband: South West

Adrian Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what recent steps his Department has taken to further the provision of high speed broadband in the Heart of the South West area.

Edward Vaizey: Devon and Somerset has already received nearly £32 million to provide superfast broadband to 95% of premises by early 2016. We have recently announced a further £22.75 million to extend coverage to 95% by 2017. Devon and Somerset will also be the location for one of the pilots looking at the potential to go beyond 95% coverage.

Culture: Finance

John Pugh: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what assessment he has made of the effects of the distribution of cultural funds and subsidies throughout the regions of the UK.

Edward Vaizey: Funding decisions for the arts are made independently of Ministers by Arts Council England (ACE). Earlier this week, ACE announced an increase in the proportion of spend on regional arts and major partner museums.

Direct Selling

Jason McCartney: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if he will bring forward legislative proposals to increase the penalties available for repeat offenders against the law relating to nuisance calls.

Edward Vaizey: Further legislation is not necessary, as both the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) and the Office of Communications (Ofcom) can issue substantive monetary penalties of up to £500,000 and £2 million respectively to any organisation that deliberately continues to contravene the regulations.

EU Education, Youth and Culture Council

Ivan Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what input officials in his Department sought from their counterparts in the Northern Ireland Executive in preparation for the UK's attendance at the Education, Youth, Culture and Sport Council held in Brussels on 20 and 21 May 2014.

Edward Vaizey: DCMS officials seek to keep their counterparts in the Northern Ireland Executive informed of relevant EU developments on an ongoing basis. There was no specific contact prior to the meeting of the Education, Youth, Culture and Sport Council on 20 and 21 May.

Tour de France

Andrew Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if his Department will estimate the level of financial benefit in (a) Harrogate and Knaresborough constituency and (b) Yorkshire and the Humber as a result of the upcoming launch of the Tour de France.

Helen Grant: UK Sport is supporting the production of a full economic impact assessment of the event and this will be made available later this year.

Tourism

Mark Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what assessment he has made of the importance of regional tourism in the UK; and what steps he has taken to support small, local hospitality businesses.

Helen Grant: Estimates of the direct tourism gross value added (GVA) contribution to the UK economy for each English region, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland were recently published by the Office for National Statistics for the year 2011. In total, they show that tourism directly contributed a GVA of around £50 billion to the UK (4% of the economy).
	
		
			 Region ONS figures for 2011 (direct in £ billion) 
			 Scotland 5.0 
			 Wales 2.3 
			 Northern Ireland 0.3 
			 London 13.1 
			 Rest of England - 
			 North East 1.1 
			 North West 5.1 
			 Yorkshire and the Humber 2.6 
			 East Midlands 2.3 
			 West Midlands 2.5 
			 East of England 3.4 
			 South East 6.6 
			 South West 4.4 
		
	
	Further economic analysis by Deloitte, commissioned by VisitBritain, suggests that if indirect economic effects are also included, GVA is forecast to be as high as £127 billion (9% of the UK economy) in 2013.
	In terms of supporting small, local hospitality businesses, since April 2013 community venues have not had to apply to the local council for an entertainment license for events such as dance displays and concerts. Previously, such licenses currently cost, on average, more than £200 for new applications or needed at least 10 days’ notice for Temporary Event Notices. At the 2014 Budget, the tax on a typical pint of beer was cut by 1p, the duty on ordinary cider was frozen this year, and the duty escalator for wine was ended. Duty on spirits was also frozen for 2014-15.
	Furthermore, thematic marketing campaigns focusing on what England is most loved for including Heritage, Coast, Countryside and Culture, as well as Sport and Literature, will be delivered and developed as part of the three-year, £19.8m project 'Growing Tourism Locally', funded by the Government's Regional Growth Fund (BIS), with contributions from VisitEngland and private sector. The project focuses on working directly with destinations and the private sector, to create a number of dedicated marketing campaigns throughout the country with emphasis on specific areas and themes. This will also benefit SMEs in the hospitality sector.

Tourism

Mark Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what steps he is taking to help the tourism industry retain its role as a key provider of skills and training for the UK workforce.

Helen Grant: The Government have recently launched a new Tourism Council, whose remit is jobs, skills and enterprise. The council is a partnership between Government and industry and will be jointly chaired by myself, the Minister for Skills and Enterprise, my hon. Friend the Member for West Suffolk (Matthew Hancock), and Simon Vincent, Chair of the Hospitality Guild and Hilton President, Europe, Middle East and East Africa. In March, the Prime Minister announced that there will be two new apprenticeship Trailblazers for Tourism and Hospitality.

Tourism

Mark Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the findings of the Great Britain Tourism Survey that domestic trips in the UK fell by three million in 2013; and if he will make a statement.

Helen Grant: The number of trips taken in GB in 2013 was the third highest in the eight years that the current survey has been running and well above pre-recession averages, with spending second only to 2012. We do expect to see a natural increase in people booking holidays abroad as the economy improves but people are continuing to choose Britain for their holiday. Through its Holidays at Home are GREAT campaign, VisitEngland continues to promote England as a place for all residents of Britain to enjoy, and Visit Scotland and Visit Wales are also actively promoting their offer. The GB Tourism Survey also noted the record number of inbound tourists in 2013 reaching nearly 33 million.

Universal Credit

Chris Bryant: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if he will estimate the cost to the public purse of extending entitlement to free (a) swimming and (b) other leisure services to all claimants of universal credit once universal credit has been fully rolled out.

Helen Grant: No costing has been estimated.

Visits Abroad

Adrian Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what future foreign visits the Minister for Sport, Tourism and Equalities has planned in relation to her departmental duties; and if he will make a statement.

Helen Grant: A number of visits have been proposed by other Government Departments but I currently have no plans for any further foreign visits at this time.

Visits Abroad

Adrian Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport 
	(1)  what the cost was of the Minister for Sport, Tourism and Equalities' recent visit to Brazil; and if he will make a statement;
	(2)  if he will publish the official appointments which took place during the Minister for Sport, Tourism and Equalities' recent visit to Brazil; and if he will make a statement;
	(3)  how many foreign visits the Minister for Sport, Tourism and Equalities has made arising from her departmental roles; and if he will make a statement;
	(4)  what the cost is of all foreign visits undertaken by the Minister for Sport, Tourism and Equalities as part of her official duties to date.

Helen Grant: Details of Ministers’ visits overseas are published quarterly and can be found at:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/expenses-and-hospitality
	The latest data available at this time are:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dcms-meetings-and-hospitality-data-october-to-december-2013

DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER

Electoral Register

Chris Ruane: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what additional central Government funding is available to electoral registration officers for the purpose of electoral registration in each of the last 10 years; and which local authorities were successful in bidding for such funding.

Greg Clark: The following additional amounts were available for the purpose of electoral registration in the last 10 years:
	
		
			  £ 
			 2007-08 934,741 
			 2008-09 544,391 
			 2009-10 427,190 
			 2010-11 54,708 
			 2011-12 1— 
			 2012-13 1— 
			 2013-14 4,857,018 
			 2014-15 29,992,993 
			 1 No additional funding. 
		
	
	In the financial years 2007-08 to 2010-11, local authorities were able to bid for funding from the Participation Fund, which was abolished due to lack of demand. A table listing those local authorities which received money from this fund has been placed in the Library of the House.
	The Government have provided funding in 2013-14 and 2014-15, in addition to the Revenue Support Grant, for every local authority and Valuation Joint Board in England, Wales and Scotland for the net additional cost of the transition to Individual Electoral Registration (IER).
	In addition, in 2013-14 every local authority and Valuation Joint Board in England, Wales and Scotland received a share of £3,984,068 funding to support the costs of activities to maximise electoral registration.

TREASURY

Banks: Pay

David Crausby: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what discussions his Department has had with the (a) Prudential Regulation Authority and (b) Financial Conduct Authority about reports of UK banks paying allowances to employees in order to avoid the EU's bonus cap; and what steps he plans to take to reduce such practices.

Andrea Leadsom: The UK is at the forefront of global efforts to tackle excessive pay in the financial sector and ensure that pay is aligned with performance, with a tough Remuneration Code that requires deferral of at least 60% of bonuses of senior bankers and limits the amounts that can be paid in cash. Bonuses are down significantly since their peak under the last Government, and are now largely deferred and paid in shares.
	In contrast, the EU’s bonus cap is a poorly thought through measure that undermines rather than reinforces our efforts by pushing up fixed pay. It was introduced without any proper impact assessment and has issues around its compatibility with the EU treaty; for these reasons we are challenging it in the European Court of Justice. However, pending the outcome, the Government is fully implementing the cap in the UK, and the Prudential Regulation Authority is responsible for ensuring that the banks comply with these rules.

Business: Government Assistance

Andrew Turner: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what recent steps he has taken to support businesses with five or fewer staff.

David Gauke: The Government's long-term economic plan is backing small businesses as they set up and grow. As part of this plan we are cutting taxes and reducing red tape to help businesses. In particular, the employment allowance was introduced in April 2014, and allows businesses and charities throughout the UK to deduct up to £2,000 off their employer national insurance contributions (NICs) bill each year. Over 60% of the total benefit of the policy is expected to go to businesses with fewer than 10 employees, and a business employing three people on the median full-time private sector wage of £25,800 in 2014-15 will see their typical NICs bill cut by over 25%.
	In addition, autumn statement 2013 announced the extension of the small business rate relief until April 2015, taking 350,000 small businesses out of business rates.
	The British Business Bank was launched in October 2013 to make finance markets work better for small firms, allowing them to prosper, grow and support the UK economy. Over the next five years, the Bank aims to unlock up to £10 billion of financing for viable smaller businesses. Business Bank programmes facilitated a total of £782 million of new lending and investment in the fiscal year 2013-14, to over 30,000 businesses. This represents more than a doubling of activity on the previous year. The Business Bank also supported £100 million of new venture capital investment in 2013-14. Startup Loans is a £322 million scheme to help individuals to access finance and support to start a business. Over 18,000 loans totalling more than £90 million have been made since the launch in April 2012.
	These measures are all part of our economic plan that is building a stronger, more competitive economy.

Financial Conduct Authority

Paul Flynn: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer 
	(1)  if he will review the scope of the consumer credit regulatory powers of the Financial Conduct Authority;
	(2)  if he will bring forward legislative proposals to amend the statutory powers of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to permit the FCA to investigate alleged illegal actions undertaken before its creation;
	(3)  which powers and responsibilities the Financial Conduct Authority has not inherited from the Office of Fair Trading; and which financial regulatory body has inherited each such power and responsibility;
	(4)  what requirement will be placed on Wonga to track down the address of each customer due financial compensation for unfair and misleading debt collection practices.

Andrea Leadsom: The Government have fundamentally reformed regulation of the consumer credit market. The transfer of regulatory responsibility for consumer credit from the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) to the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) took effect in April. The FCA has stronger powers and is far better equipped to protect consumers than the OFT.
	Wonga has voluntarily agreed to pay compensation totalling more than £2.6 million to around 45,000 customers in relation to unfair debt collection practices between 2008 and 2010. The requirement agreed by Wonga is available at:
	http://www.fca.org.uk/your-fca/documents/requirement-notices/wonga-group-limited-vreq
	Had Wonga not agreed, the FCA could have used its powers to impose requirements. Wonga will appoint a skilled person (as specified under section 166 of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000) to ensure that affected customers receive appropriate compensation.
	More generally, the Government have ensured that the FCA has inherited the OFT’s powers (both criminal and regulatory) in relation to misconduct which occurred before 1 April 2014, as well as considerably strengthening the FCA’s powers in relation to misconduct which occurs under the new regulatory regime.
	The FCA has the same powers as the OFT had to investigate and prosecute offences under the Consumer Credit Act 1974.
	The FCA has also inherited the OFT’s power to fine, although the OFT’s power to fine under the Consumer Credit Act was limited to fining a firm for breaches of a requirement imposed by the OFT (and the maximum penalty in this regard was £50,000). The Government have already strengthened the new regime by giving the FCA the ability to impose unlimited fines for breaches of regulatory requirements that take place after 1 April 2014.

Financial Markets: Regulation

Paul Flynn: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what recent discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills on the regulation of the practice of dark pool trading by high frequency bank traders.

Andrea Leadsom: Treasury Ministers regularly meet with Ministers in other Departments as part of normal Government business. As was the case with previous Administrations, it is not the Government's practice to provide details of all such meetings and discussions.
	Dark pool trading is subject to regulation under the markets in financial instruments directive (2004/39/EC) (MiFID). The new MiFIR Regulation (600/2014/EU) recently agreed as part of the “MiFID 2” negotiations will impose significant limits on dark pool trading in the EU.

Performance Appraisal

Emma Lewell-Buck: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what proportion of (a) disabled and (b) all other staff employed by his Department received each level of performance rating in their end of year performance assessment for 2013-14.

Andrea Leadsom: The 2013-14 appraisal data are not available yet.

Tax Avoidance

David Anderson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will take steps to ensure that proposed accelerated payment notices are not applied retrospectively.

David Gauke: The majority of people pay the tax they owe but there is a minority who don't. As part of the Government's long-term economic plan, we are cracking down on tax avoidance.
	Legislation currently before Parliament on accelerated payments will enable HMRC to issue notices seeking upfront payment of disputed tax in certain existing and future avoidance cases.
	The legislation is not retrospective. It does not create any new tax liability; it simply alters where the tax sits while the liability is being disputed, and puts those who try to avoid tax on the same footing as the vast majority who pay their tax upfront under PAYE.
	The taxpayer can continue to dispute the case and will be paid with interest should they win.

UK Membership of EU: Northern Ireland

Ivan Lewis: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what recent assessment he has made of the economic benefit to Northern Ireland of the UK's membership of the EU.

Nicky Morgan: The Government have made no assessment of the economic benefit to Northern Ireland of the UK’s membership of the EU.

Welfare Tax Credits: Self-employed

Stephen Timms: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many self-employed people claimed (a) child tax credits and (b) working tax credits in each of the last 10 years.

David Gauke: The following table is based on finalised tax credits administrative data for each financial year. The latest data available are 2012-13.
	
		
			 Number of families in receipt of tax credits containing at least one member identified as self-employed 
			 Thousand 
			 Tax year Families benefitting from both WTC and CTC Families benefitting from WTC only 
			 2007-08 740 80 
			 2008-09 760 100 
			 2009-10 780 130 
			 2010-11 800 150 
			 2011-12 750 160 
			 2012-13 600 170 
		
	
	Data from earlier years are available only at disproportionate cost.
	The decrease in the number of self-employed households in 2012-13 can largely be explained by the removal of the “second income threshold” of tax credits in April 2012. This policy change removed a large number of higher income households from the whole tax credits population.
	In general, there is and has been a long-term trend of growth in the number of self-employed people.

COMMUNITIES AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT

Fire Services

Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government 
	(1)  with reference to paragraph 1.20 of the Fire Statistics Great Britain 2012-13; what the reasons are for the difference in the number of primary fires in England attended by the Fire and Rescue Service reported in each table and table 1a of the appendices to the Fire Incidents Response Times, England 2012-13;
	(2)  for what reasons his Department no longer publishes statistics for non-fire incidents with casualties attended by the Fire and Rescue Service in Great Britain;
	(3)  how many non-fire incidents with casualties were attended by the Fire and Rescue Service in Great Britain in (a) 2011-12, (b) 2012-13 and (c) 2013-14.

Brandon Lewis: holding answer 17 June 2014
	The information is as follows:
	Collection of statistics
	My Department’s Fire Statistics Monitor publication continues to provide statistics on numbers of non-fire incidents. These are updated twice a year and data for each fire and rescue authority in England can be found in spreadsheet workbook 7 at:
	www.gov.uk/government/collections/fire-statistics-monitor
	The Department published numbers of casualties at non-fire incidents for the first time in the 2010-11 publication of Fire Statistics Great Britain. This was discontinued following a 2012 readership survey which did not identify any need for them on a regular basis.
	Statistics on incidents attended
	The following table provides figures for incidents with one or more casualties attended by fire and rescue authorities in Great Britain, based on the Fire and Rescue Incident Recording System.
	
		
			  2011-12 2012-13 2013-14 
			 Fire incidents with one or more casualties 8,881 8,167 7,464 
			 Road traffic collision with one or more casualties 16,627 16,375 16,820 
			 Medical incidents 5,278 6,099 5,919 
			 Other non-fire incident with one or more casualties 6,300 6,146 6,270 
			 Total 37,086 36,787 36,473 
		
	
	Statistical calculation of response times
	The difference in the primary fire numbers published is due to a small number of incidents being excluded from the calculation of average response times to ensure the data is as representative and consistent over time as possible. These are Official Statistics publications and, as such, the Department’s Head of Profession for Statistics has sole responsibility for decisions on the methodology for these statistics and how they are presented.
	The excluded incidents are those for which response time may be less critical, such as fires in abandoned vehicles or derelict property, and exceptional incidents which would otherwise skew averages and hinder analysis of trends. The exclusions are in line with long-established statistical practice; details on the exclusions are set out on p.16 of the Fire Incident Response Times 2012-13, published in August 2013:
	www.gov.uk/government/publications/fire-incidents-response-times-england-2012-to-2013

Fire Services

Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government 
	(1)  with reference to the difference in the record of the number of primary fires in England attended by the Fire and Rescue Service in paragraph 1.20 of the Fire Statistics Great Britain 2012-13 and in table 1a of the appendices to the Fire Incidents Response Times, England 2012-13, what assessment he has made of whether average response times for 2012-13 have been wrongly calculated;
	(2)  with reference to paragraph 1.20 of the Fire Statistics Great Britain 2012-13, what the reasons are for the difference in the number of primary fires in England attended by the Fire and Rescue Service reported in each table and table 1a of the appendices to the Fire Incidents Response Times, England 2012-13;
	(3)  how many non-fire incidents with casualties were attended by the Fire and Rescue Service in Great Britain in (a) 2011-12, (b) 2012-13 and (c) 2013-14;
	(4)  for what reasons his Department no longer publishes statistics for non-fire incidents with casualties attended by the Fire and Rescue Service in Great Britain.

Brandon Lewis: I refer the hon. Member to my answer today to PQs 200566, 200567 and 200568.

Fire Services

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government 
	(1)  if he will publish the research on the effect of age on aerobic capacity used by the Government in developing proposals regarding firefighters' pensions;
	(2)  what research his Department has undertaken into the aerobic capacity required by the occupation fitness standards used by fire services that guarantees that firefighters are safe and effective in their ability to complete necessary roles within their occupation.

Brandon Lewis: The Government commissioned report “Normal Pension Age for Firefighters” found that there was no reason why every firefighter who stayed physically fit could not remain operational until age 60. It also found that where firefighters do lose their fitness, the vast majority are able to regain their fitness levels following a period of extra training. The report can be found at
	http://www.clg.heywood.co.uk/node/658
	There is no single fitness standard in fire and rescue authorities and Dr Williams' assessment was based on current practices among fire and rescue authorities.
	Fitness regimes are a matter for local fire authorities as employers and no direct changes to this are being made with the 2015 scheme, which has the same pension age of 60 years as the firefighters pension scheme introduced in 2006.

Fire Services: Industrial Disputes

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if his Department will investigate the adequacy of the London Fire Brigade and other fire and rescue services' contingency arrangements for strikes.

Brandon Lewis: I refer the hon. Member to my answer to the hon. Member for West Ham (Lyn Brown) on 30 June 2014, Official Report, columns 409-10W.

Fire Services: Industrial Disputes

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what steps he is taking to ensure that fire and rescue services are providing adequate training to resilience crews to maintain the safety of the public in strikes and on similar occasions.

Brandon Lewis: The responsibility for training resilience crews for industrial action by the Fire Brigades Union, is entirely a matter for individual fire and rescue authorities.

Fire Services: Pensions

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what his policy is on the granting of full pensions to firefighters over 55 years old who are forced to retire due to naturally declining fitness levels.

Brandon Lewis: If a firefighter is permanently incapacitated so as to be unable to undertake their role they will be eligible for an ill-health pension. Where a firefighter is not permanently incapacitated, fire and rescue authorities will support a firefighter in regaining their fitness. An independent report found that the vast majority of firefighters who lose their fitness will regain it following remedial training.
	The New Firefighters' Pension Scheme 2006 provides fire and rescue authorities with the discretion to pay an unreduced pension to a firefighter having regard to the costs of the case and the economical, efficient and effective management of their functions; the draft Firefighters' Pension Scheme 2015 regulations contain a similar provision. In early June we made an offer to the Fire Brigades Union to work with the employers to develop a common approach to the use of this discretion. The union rejected that offer and announced further strike action. Further details can be found in my letter of 5 June to the Chairmen of Fire and Rescue Authorities at:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/318086/Letter_from_Brandon_Lewis_on_strike_action_5_June_2014_2.pdf
	I have placed a copy in the Library of the House.

Housing: Planning Permission

Cheryl Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government whether a local planning authority which rejects a housing development application which is subsequently approved on appeal by the Planning Inspectorate are still eligible for the New Homes Bonus.

Kris Hopkins: Yes.

Tree Preservation Orders

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what guidance his Department has given to local authorities on dealing with trees that are subject to a preservation order.

Nicholas Boles: In March we issued new web-based planning guidance on the Tree Preservation Order system. It is available at
	http://planningguidance.planningportal.gov.uk/blog/guidance/tree-preservation-orders/

Wind Power: Planning Permission

Ben Wallace: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if he will amend paragraph 98 of the National Planning Policy Framework to require applicants for onshore wind energy developments to demonstrate an overall national need for renewable energy.

Kris Hopkins: Inappropriately sited wind turbines can cause significant harm to the local environment. Hence, last year, we changed planning guidance to strengthen the protection of landscape and heritage in relation to onshore wind.
	Looking forward, we are keeping planning policy on renewable energy under review and will consider whether any further steps are appropriate in the light of this monitoring. We are open to representations.

TRANSPORT

Energy

Tom Greatrex: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what estimate he has made of his Department's consumption in kWh of (a) gas and (b) electricity in each month since June 2010; and what the cost of such consumption has been in each such month.

Stephen Hammond: The Department for Transport monthly gas and electricity consumption and costs since June 2010 are shown in the following tables.
	
		
			 Gas 
			  April May June July August September 
			 2010-11       
			 Cost (£'s) — — 89,323 53,262 64,819 69,903 
			 Consumption (kWh) — — 2,765,864 2,051,614 2,314,278 2,948,351 
			        
			 2011-12       
			 Cost (£'s) 182,387 1,453 102,292 113,619 102,036 106,261 
			 Consumption (kWh) 2,507,105 2,675,871 2,501,228 2,508,355 2,468,495 2,707,117 
			        
			 2012-13       
			 Cost (£'s) 136,866 24,024 173,305 103,036 91,674 102,906 
			 Consumption (kWh) 3,840,258 1,864,276 2,977,030 2,311,261 2,366,968 3,322,920 
			        
			 2013-14       
			 Cost (£'s) 268,289 107,343 40,060 91,336 112,761 65,421 
			 Consumption (kWh) 6,107,608 3,216,144 2,219,608 1,976,303 2,640,505 2,075,815 
			        
			 2014-15       
			 Cost (£'s) 86,948 50,789 — — — — 
			 Consumption (kWh) 2,052,878 937,543 — — — — 
		
	
	
		
			  October November December January February March 
			 2010-11       
			 Cost (£'s) 84,942 91,092 145,855 118,336 85,990 153,098 
			 Consumption (kWh) 3,852,895 4,606,507 6,537,652 5,452,163 4,581,999 3,055,751 
			        
			 2011-12       
			 Cost (£'s) 118,008 129,633 157,842 110,037 119,791 118,720 
			 Consumption (kWh) 3,589,633 4,103,580 3,027,405 3,628,299 3,639,023 2,798,017 
			        
			 2012-13       
			 Cost (£'s) 145,864 168,852 187,835 159,323 220,423 140,077 
			 Consumption (kWh) 4,162,324 4,690,591 5,142,555 4,418,229 6,515,578 3,550,260 
			        
			 2013-14       
			 Cost (£'s) 163,545 120,051 122,236 139,816 32,457 74,645 
			 Consumption (kWh) 2,157,467 2,862,344 3,369,815 3,758,750 2,985,151 2,474,352 
			        
			 2014-15       
			 Cost (£'s) — — — — — — 
			 Consumption (kWh) — — — — — — 
		
	
	
		
			 Electricity 
			  April May June July August September 
			 2010-11       
			 Cost (£'s) — — 2,994,557 1,676,805 1,858,046 1,914,563 
			 Consumption (kWh) — — 17,056,533 18,664,750 19,542,699 20,704,940 
			        
			 2011-12       
			 Cost (£'s) 796,309 3,095,642 2,989,463 1,807,842 2,026,248 1,819,784 
			 Consumption (kWh) 18,956,056 17,401,467 16,419,074 17,153,613 18,398,798 19,736,749 
			        
		
	
	
		
			 2012-13       
			 Cost (£'s) 1,011,482 2,407,758 3,339,366 1,863,036 1,996,870 2,086,709 
			 Consumption (kWh) 18,387,334 17,102,070 14,919,124 16,023,542 17,267,602 17,989,330 
			        
			 2013-14       
			 Cost (£'s) 2,531,236 2,087,774 2,085,858 2,431,222 2,087,680 1,156,474 
			 Consumption (kWh) 17,524,269 16,207,274 14,738,569 15,999,407 16,809,844 18,325,509 
			        
			 2014-15       
			 Cost (£'s) 2,730,198 2,118,192 — — — — 
			 Consumption (kWh) 21,728,760 16,346,703 — — — — 
		
	
	
		
			  October November December January February March 
			 2010-11       
			 Cost (£'s) 1,976,386 2,267,110 843,061 4,001,327 2,061,582 1,795,554 
			 Consumption (kWh) 23,789,961 24,754,506 26,495,560 27,138,969 24,434,103 24,948,784 
			        
			 2011-12       
			 Cost (£'s) 2,250,879 1,195,093 3,766,019 3,313,098 2,990,769 2,732,490 
			 Consumption (kWh) 22,305,111 23,608,509 25,410,365 26,928,937 23,624,584 23,572,285 
			        
			 2012-13       
			 Cost (£'s) 2,507,158 2,540,182 2,897,649 2,970,549 2,900,860 2,677,804 
			 Consumption (kWh) 21,226,595 22,252,859 23,767,582 25,623,328 22,315,559 22,523,105 
			        
			 2013-14       
			 Cost (£'s) 4,199,082 2,957,722 3,135,618 3,515,159 3,261,438 2,826,493 
			 Consumption (kWh) 21,618,161 22,544,190 23,936,928 25,510,055 22,105,003 22,260,326 
			        
			 2014-15       
			 Cost (£'s) — — — — — — 
			 Consumption (kWh) — — — — — —

First Transpennine Express and Northern Rail

Alex Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport whether the franchise specifications for rail passenger services on the (a) TransPennine and (b) Northern lines contained in his Department's consultation document published on 9 June 2014 will lead to a reduction in services for passengers in the North East.

Stephen Hammond: The specifications for both the Northern and TransPennine Express franchises have not yet been decided. A public consultation exercise is being conducted, which will inform these specifications. The consultation can be found at:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/future-of-northern-and-transpennine-express-rail-franchises
	No decisions on services will be made until the consultation process has finished.

First TransPennine Express and Northern Rail

Alex Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what recent assessment he has made of the match between service levels and passenger demand on each section of the (a) TransPennine Express and (b) Northern Rail franchises.

Stephen Hammond: Between 2002 and 2012 rail demand in the North of England grew by a total of 66% and demand is expected to continue to grow. The Department for Transport is currently preparing its own forecasts of passenger demand for the next franchises to inform the specification.
	The Northern and TransPennine Express franchises consultation document included information from the Government’s Rail Investment Strategy for the period up to March 2019. This set out the number of passengers to be accommodated on services into Leeds and Manchester on a weekday during the morning peak period, as set out in the table:
	
		
			 Table 2.2 Number of passengers to be accommodated into Leeds and Manchester 
			  Peak three hours High-peak hour 
			  Forecast demand in 2013-14 Extra demand to be met by 2018-19 Forecast demand in 2013-14 Extra demand to be met by 2018-19 
			 Leeds 25,400 5,100 13,000 2,800 
		
	
	
		
			 Manchester 28,100 6,200 13,600 2,600 
			 Source: HLOS (2012)

First TransPennine Express and Northern Rail

Alex Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what recent assessment he has made of the value for money of current levels of service on each section of the (a) TransPennine Express and (b) Northern Rail franchises.

Stephen Hammond: At a Direct Award or franchise Re-let we carry out value for money assessments (in order to calculate Benefit-Cost Ratios) of changes to service levels but we do not undertake this assessment of the existing base service levels where they carry forward into the new Agreement.
	However, for any large procurement exercise such as a Direct Award or Franchise Re-let, we use externally produced comparators that cover the whole of the franchise to allow us to evaluate the price of any bid that we receive.

First TransPennine Express and Northern Rail

Alex Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport whether the franchise specifications for rail passenger services on the (a) TransPennine and (b) Northern lines contained in his Department's consultation document published on 9 June 2014 will increase the total number of daily (i) peak and (ii) off-peak services on these routes.

Stephen Hammond: The specifications for both the Northern and TransPennine Express franchises have not yet been decided. A public consultation exercise is being conducted, which will inform these specifications. The consultation can be found at:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/future-of-northern-and-transpennine-express-rail-franchises
	No decisions on services will be made until the consultation process has finished.

Members: Correspondence

David Winnick: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when the hon. Member for Walsall North will receive a reply to his letter of 29 May 2014 on behalf of a constituent.

Stephen Hammond: The Under-Secretary of State for Transport, my hon. Friend the Member for Scarborough and Whitby (Mr Goodwill), replied to the letter on 1 July 2014.

Railways: North West

Mark Menzies: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what recent discussions he has had with Northern Rail on modernising stations on the South Fylde line.

Stephen Hammond: As owner and manager of the stations on the South Fylde line, it is for Network Rail and Northern to look at improving facilities at the stations on this line, working to develop schemes with other local stakeholders.
	Government support and funding for station modernisation and improvements are available through various schemes including Access for All and the National Station Improvement Programme.

Railways: North West

Mark Menzies: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what discussions he has had with Network Rail on the introduction of a passing loop on the South Fylde Line.

Stephen Hammond: I have had no discussions with Network Rail on this subject. Network Rail is currently undertaking a long-term planning process in consultation with industry, local and other stakeholders to identify priorities for future development of the rail network following the 2014-19 Control Period.

Rescue Services: Liverpool

Katy Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many times the Maritime Rescue Co-ordination Centre at Liverpool was staffed at below risk-assessed levels in (a) April 2014 and (b) May 2014.

Stephen Hammond: Liverpool Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC) was staffed below risk assessed levels during:
	(a) April 2014—30 occasions out of 60 shifts
	(b) May 2014—six occasions out of 62 shifts
	Where there are specific issues at a MRCC Her Majesty’s Coastguard is using the current long established pairing arrangements between MRCCs. This enables each MRCC to be connected to at least one other MRCC which is available to provide mutual support.

Valuation of Life and Health Interdepartmental Group

Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what monetary thresholds were applied to the cost-per-quality adjusted life year quoted in the evidence submitted as part of his Department's work with the Inter-departmental Group for the Valuation of Life and Health review in 2008.

Stephen Hammond: As suggested by the evidence submitted as part of the Department’s work with the Inter-Departmental Group for the Valuation of Life and Health review in 2008, the Department for Transport does not use cost per quality adjusted life year in its analysis.

HEALTH

Asthma

Roger Godsiff: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps he is taking to ensure that national guidelines on asthma care are implemented; and what steps his Department is taking to improve the quality and availability of available data on asthma care.

Jane Ellison: NHS England is taking a number of actions to improve the care and management of people with asthma.
	It is supporting clinical commissioning groups to improve out of hospital treatment for those with asthma by giving doctors more control over the commissioning of asthma services and improving information links between general practitioners and hospitals. The implementation of the National Institute of Health and Care Excellence (NICE) asthma quality standard, which sets out what good quality care looks like, will also raise the standard of care people with asthma receive.
	The National Clinical Director for Respiratory Disease, Professor Mike Morgan, is responsible for working across all five domains of the NHS Outcomes Framework in NHS England in tackling asthma issues, and Dr Jacqueline Cornish, the National Clinical Director for children, young people and transition to adulthood, is working with the Strategic Clinical Networks for maternity, neonates and children and young people, to improve clinical outcomes for children and young people with asthma. NHS England also continues to work with Asthma UK and professional groups in both primary and secondary care to improve outcomes for all those with asthma. It is also working to ensure that everyone with a long-term condition is offered a personalised care plan and an asthma action plan should form part of that.
	In terms of data collection on asthma, the Healthcare Quality Improvement Partnership is considering with NHS England, a national clinical audit of asthma services across the country against NICE quality standards for asthma.

Breastfeeding

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what proportion of mothers in England are breastfeeding their baby on discharge from neonatal care.

Daniel Poulter: This information is not collected centrally.

Breastfeeding

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps his Department is taking to promote breastfeeding for mothers of babies in neonatal care.

Daniel Poulter: The Department recognises that breastfeeding has huge health benefits for mother and baby and that breast milk is even more important for the most vulnerable babies cared for in neonatal and special care baby units, where it is essential to promote and support breastfeeding. In the last few years a number of local, regional and national initiatives to increase breast milk usage and improve breastfeeding support have been implemented, with an increasing focus on breastfeeding rates at discharge.
	NHS England’s Neonatal Service specification requires that all commissioned providers of neonatal services provide appropriate family facilities, which includes private and comfortable breastfeeding and expressing facilities.
	The Department has sponsored a DVD ‘From Bump to Breast Feeding’ which is distributed free to pregnant women and includes material on breast feeding for pre-term babies. This is supported by NHS England.
	Most trusts are working with agencies such as Bliss to improve this aspect of care and every year more units are successfully gaining accreditation for having implemented the baby friendly initiative. There is still further progress to be made in this area. However, teams who have demonstrable success are working to disseminate their practices.
	A national neonatal Commissioning for Quality and Information (CQUIN) to increase breastfeeding rates in babies less than 33 weeks was agreed in 2012-13 and some units continue to work towards improving support as part of current CQUINs. To meet this, many units have recruited specialist nurses to support mothers in the early stages following delivery and again later in the transition to full breastfeeding and are able to demonstrate exemplar practices. Improvement projects focused on supporting mothers to provide breast milk for babies in neonatal units have seen statistically significant increases in breast feeding rates. NHS England does not have details of projects being implemented from individual trusts.

Chlamydia

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps he is taking to encourage postal tests and other alternative routes for Chlamydia screening; how many postal tests for Chlamydia were used in each of the last five years; and how many providers of such services there are.

Jane Ellison: The current National Chlamydia Screening Programme (NCSP) advice is that health service based screening may be supplemented by high quality internet-based testing. This is highlighted in the NCSP Standards for Chlamydia Screening, Equity of Access Report and Guide on Involving Young Men in Chlamydia Screening. The Public Health England (PHE) sexual health facilitator team advocate this to local commissioners and providers. Internet testing is attractive to some population sections, especially men.
	Currently PHE does not collect information specifically on remote testing delivered through postal kits. Therefore the current number of such providers cannot be ascertained. PHE has applied to the Standardisation Committee for Care Information to introduce data collection on postal testing commissioned by local authorities.
	The remote testing data for five years collected prior to 2012 by the NCSP is shown in the following table:
	
		
			  Number of tests done through remote testing 
			 2007 7,344 
			 2008 38,144 
			 2009 143,250 
			 2010 141,361 
		
	
	
		
			 2011 106,043 
			 Notes: 1. Data includes Chlamydia tests carried out on people aged between 15 and 24 years. 2. Remote testing data (which included kits sent via mail outs, kits requested over the telephone or online). 3. Chlamydia activity data reported by PHE are based on primary care, community service and Genitounirary medicine clinic Chlamydia data. 4. Data includes tests where sex is male, female, and unknown/unspecified. Data includes all screening tests, diagnostic tests and tests on contacts. 5. Data includes Chlamydia tests among people accessing services located in England who are also residents in England. 6. Data represents the number of tests reported, and not the number of people tested. 7. Data presented are based on tests with confirmed positive and negative results only. Tests with equivocal, inhibitory and insufficient results have been excluded as most people with these results are retested. 8. The data were extracted on 13 August 2012. 9. Where an area of residence cannot be assigned, data are excluded.

Chlamydia

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what routes other than postal screening, GP surgeries and sexual health clinics, are being encouraged for opportunistic Chlamydia screening.

Jane Ellison: The National Chlamydia Screening Programme (NCSP) recommends in its guidance that Chlamydia screening should be integrated within wider sexual health provisions for young adults, and offered at every opportunity (for example, consultations such as emergency hormonal contraception and abortion referrals). National guidance on integrated care models has been produced by the NCSP.
	In addition to screening offered via postal test kits, general practitioner surgeries and genitourinary medicine clinics, commissioners are advised to ensure that screening is available in contraceptive health services, pharmacies and where appropriate, through outreach programmes. The NCSP provides guidance on when and how to best deliver outreach programmes with the aim of ensuring services are based on need, are good value for money and are sustainable.

Commissioning Support Units

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much income commissioning support units earned from clinical commissioning groups in 2013-14; and what proportion of that income related to support for clinical commissioning groups on putting NHS services out to tender.

Jane Ellison: During 2013-14 commissioning support units in England earned £602.1 million from clinical commissioning groups (CCGs). We do not collect information centrally on what proportion of income is used in relation to CCGs tendering activity.

Cystic Fibrosis

David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many cystic fibrosis sufferers have died while being on the waiting list for a lung transplant in each of the last five years.

Jane Ellison: The information requested is in the following table:
	
		
			 Patients with cystic fibrosis, who have died while actively waiting on the lung transplant list (by year of death not year of registration) 
			 Financial Year Patients 
			 2013-14 19 
			 2012-13 19 
			 2011-12 14 
			 2010-11 19 
			 2009-10 27 
			 Source: NHS Blood and Transplant

East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust

Roger Gale: To ask the Secretary of State for Health with reference to the speech by Simon Stevens, CEO, NHS England on 4 June 2014, if he will call in and review the decision taken by the East Kent Hospitals University Foundation Trust to transfer community services currently based at the Queen Victoria Memorial Hospital Herne Bay to the Estuary View Medical Practice in Whitstable.

Jane Ellison: The reconfiguration of local health services is the responsibility of the local national health service, led by clinicians, and should be in the best interests of patients. Any reconfiguration proposed has to ensure that it shows support from general practitioner commissioners, strengthened public and patient involvement, clarity on the clinical evidence base and consistency with current and prospective patient choice.
	East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust (EKHUFT) and NHS Canterbury and Coastal Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) are leading plans to consolidate out-patient sites from 15 locations down to six, and conducted public consultation on plans between December 2013 and March 2014. We understand EKHUFT’s board approved these proposals on 27 June 2014.
	These changes do not affect the future of any community hospitals in Kent. NHS England confirms the NHS Canterbury and Coastal CCG Governing Body met on 2 July 2014 and approved EKHUFT’s move to implement new ways of working in an out-patient setting, including the reduction of specialist acute out-patient clinics from 15 sites down to six sites, and the choice of Estuary View Medical Centre as the centralised site for specialist acute out-patient services on the north Kent coast.

Energy

Tom Greatrex: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate he has made of his Department's consumption in kWh of (a) gas and (b) electricity in each month since June 2010; and what the cost of such consumption has been in each such month.

Daniel Poulter: The Department’s consumption in kWh of gas and electricity in each month since June 2010 is detailed in the following tables.
	
		
			 Gas consumption 
			 kWh 
			  2010-11 2011-12 2012-13 2013-14 2014-15 
			 April — 383,308 375,498 410,643 300,833 
			 May — 334,299 291,491 268,638 231,365 
			 June 214,194 342,759 135,620 171,941 — 
			 July 184,049 238,429 52,692 135,238 — 
		
	
	
		
			 August 270,592 179,116 96,602 144,629 — 
			 September 275,325 172,324 82,137 162,901 — 
			 October 404,226 191,563 249,232 187,581 — 
			 November 549,699 315,677 365,295 378,302 — 
			 December 814,163 448,970 430,231 500,407 — 
			 January 644,972 497,774 537,957 504,784 — 
			 February 554,519 549,609 521,341 460,338 — 
			 March 623,455 475,765 542,183 399,659 — 
		
	
	
		
			 Electricity Consumption 
			 kWh 
			  2010-11 2011-12 2012-13 2013-14 2014-15 
			 April — 775,333 727,906 743,420 734,079 
			 May — 828,597 817,660 737,329 743,728 
			 June 1,058,570 879,532 758,422 708,423 — 
			 July 1,119,452 861,447 828,709 1,011,360 — 
			 August 1,007,127 848,332 827,468 834,372 — 
			 September 950,584 845,520 740,170 725,554 — 
			 October 915,324 824,037 813,384 729,868 — 
			 November 928,702 809,542 735,035 712,812 — 
			 December 949,551 812,427 732,011 709,999 — 
			 January 920,671 842,769 811,067 779,265 — 
			 February 814,015 820,963 727,292 689,548 — 
			 March 895,910 820,483 746,071 738,869 — 
		
	
	Gas and electricitycosts
	The Department’s previous way of processing energy bills makes it difficult to provide meaningful and relevant monthly costs for earlier years but the annual expenditure for 2009-12 is as follows:
	
		
			 £ 
			  Gas Electricity 
			 2009-10 160,572 1,253,708 
			 2010-11 117,690 862,052 
			 2011-12 139,343 1,145,671 
		
	
	The following table outlines the monthly costs of gas and electricity consumption in the Department’s buildings from April 2012-13 to March 2013-14.
	
		
			 £ 
			  Gas Electricity 
			  2012-13 2013-14 2012-13 2013-14 
			 April 18,380 13,986 85,855 92,087 
			 May 10,562 9,197 95,095 89,211 
			 June 6,290 6,368 88,712 85,445 
			 July 8,236 5,205 96,871 121,466 
			 August 5,399 5,480 94,554 99,521 
			 September 6,193 6,105 84,633 87,487 
			 October 12,764 7,748 86,575 87,917 
			 November 15,734 13,337 82,322 86,119 
			 December 17,416 16,644 80,016 86,529 
			 January 18,246 17,817 90,733 90,179 
			 February 19,580 15,973 77,247 82,419 
			 March 20,512 14,369 63,457 65,760 
		
	
	These figures relate to buildings occupied by departmental staff, where the Department is directly responsible for payment of gas and electric bills and can provide monthly consumption figures. This covers Richmond House, Skipton House, Wellington House, Premier House and Premier Buildings (vacated in November 2012).

General Practitioners

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate he has made of the effect of projected population growth on the demand for GP services over the next 10 years.

Daniel Poulter: Office for National Statistics estimates suggest that by 2024, more than 10% of the United Kingdom population will be aged 75 or over. Our recent publication ‘Transforming Primary Care’, sets out our vision for more proactive, personalised, joined up care, particularly for older people. From the end of June 2014, all people aged 75 and over will have a named general practitioner (GP) with overall responsibility for and oversight of their care.
	Additionally, because of advances in medicine, people of all ages are living with complex health needs. Starting in September 2014, over 800,000 people will benefit from a Proactive Care Programme, which will provide personalised joined-up care and support tailored to their needs.
	To ensure that the workforce is capable of supporting these changes, we are working closely with Health Education England, NHS England and the professions to improve recruitment, retention and return to practice, both for GPs and for other key parts of the local workforce such as community nurses. We are planning to make available around 10,000 additional primary and community health and care professionals by 2020.

Knee Replacements

Robert Halfon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the current waiting times are for NHS knee replacement operation in England, by region.

Jane Ellison: The information requested is not held centrally. Consultant-led referral to treatment waiting times are collected separately for 18 high volume treatment functions (divisions of clinical work based on main specialty), including trauma and orthopaedics, but not for individual procedures such as knee replacements.

Knee Replacements

Robert Halfon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the cost was of NHS knee replacement operations and subsequent revisions in England in the last three years.

Jane Ellison: The information requested is not held centrally.
	Such information as is available is from reference costs, which are the average cost to national health service trusts and NHS foundation trusts of providing defined services in a given financial year to NHS patients. Reference costs for acute care are collected by Healthcare Resource Groups (HRGs), which are standard groupings of clinically similar treatments that consume common levels of healthcare resource. The HRGs in the attached table therefore include the costs of other knee procedures in addition to knee replacements.
	
		
			 Estimated cost of knee procedures to NHS providers in England by Healthcare Resource Group, 2010-11 to 2012-13, £ million 
			 Code Healthcare Resource Group 2010-11 2011-12 2012-13 
			 HB21A Major Knee Procedures for Non-Trauma, Category 2, with Major CC 32 32 39 
			 HB21B Major Knee Procedures for Non-Trauma, Category 2, with CC 25 69 79 
			 HB21C Major Knee Procedures for Non-Trauma, Category 2, without CC 314 266 237 
			 HB22B Major Knee Procedures for Non-Trauma, Category 1, with CC 8 12 15 
			 HB22C Major Knee Procedures for Non-Trauma, Category 1, without CC 57 58 61 
			 HB23B Intermediate Knee Procedures for Non-Trauma, with CC 12 19 22 
			 HB23C Intermediate Knee Procedures for Non-Trauma, without CC 109 94 89 
			 HB24B Minor Knee Procedures for Non-Trauma, Category 2, with CC 16 19 19 
			 HB24C Minor Knee Procedures for Non-Trauma, Category 2, without CC 38 28 24 
			  Total costs 613 598 587 
			 Notes: 1. These total costs are derived from the average unit costs submitted for activity that occurred in the following settings: ordinary elective, day case elective, non-elective, regular day or night attendances, and outpatients. 2. Only HRGs for non-trauma have been included in the table. HRGs for trauma and malignancy have not been included. 3. The cost of subsequent knee revisions has not been estimated. HRGs that cover orthopaedic reconstruction also include other body area procedures, some primary (ie non-revision) procedures, and trauma and non-trauma activity. 4. The following HRGs include costs relating to subsequent revisions in 2010-11 and 2011-12, and have not been included in the table: HR04B-Reconstruction Procedures Category 3, with CC HR04C-Reconstruction Procedures Category 3, without CC HR05Z-Reconstruction Procedures Category 2 HR06A-Reconstruction Procedures Category 1, 19 years and over HR06B-Reconstruction Procedures Category 1, 18 years and under 5. The following HRGs include costs relating to subsequent revisions in 2012-13, and have not been included in the table: HR07A-Orthopaedic Reconstruction with Intervention Score 43 or less, with Diagnosis Score 22 or less HR07B-Orthopaedic Reconstruction with Intervention Score 43 or less, with Diagnosis Score 23-60 HR07C-Orthopaedic Reconstruction with Intervention Score 43 or less, with Diagnosis Score 61 or more HR08A-Orthopaedic Reconstruction with Intervention Score 44-65, with Diagnosis Score 22 or less HR08B-Orthopaedic Reconstruction with Intervention Score 44-65, with Diagnosis Score 23-60 HR08C-Orthopaedic Reconstruction with Intervention Score 44-65, with Diagnosis Score 61 or more HR09A-Orthopaedic Reconstruction with Intervention Score 66 or more, with Diagnosis Score 22 or less HR09B-Orthopaedic Reconstruction with Intervention Score 66 or more, with Diagnosis Score 23-60 HR09C-Orthopaedic Reconstruction with Intervention Score 66 or more, with Diagnosis Score 61 or more 6. Figures may not sum to totals due to rounding. Source: Reference costs, Department of Health

Knee Replacements

Robert Halfon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  how many NHS knee replacement operations were carried out in England, by region, in the last three years;
	(2)  how many knee replacement revisions were carried out by the NHS in England in the last three years; and how long the average time interval was between total knee replacement and subsequent revision procedures.

Jane Ellison: The table below shows how many knee replacement operations were carried out in England, by region, in the last three years.
	
		
			  Region Full knee replacement Only one bone in the knee joint is replaced The surface of two joints within the knee joint are replaced 
			 2010-11 North East 4,817 11 144 
			  North West 9,213 42 325 
			  Yorkshire and the Humber 7,686 68 381 
			  East Midlands 5,947 32 191 
			  West Midlands 8,568 96 490 
			  East of England 7,697 41 298 
			  London 6,624 84 509 
			  South East Coast 6,408 74 386 
			  South Central 4,598 121 568 
			  South West 8,433 162 861 
			  England total 69,991 731 4,153 
			      
			 2011-12 North East 5,218 17 149 
			  North West 9,607 25 436 
			  Yorkshire and the Humber 8,147 50 522 
			  East Midlands 6,378 36 258 
			  West Midlands 8,799 29 562 
			  East of England 7,122 25 279 
			  London 7,282 28 605 
			  South East Coast 7,046 53 468 
			  South Central 4,590 79 674 
			  South West 8,976 51 912 
			  England total 73,166† 393 4,865 
			      
			 2012-13 North East 5,031 8 134 
			  North West 9,822 18 350 
			  Yorkshire and the Humber 8,211 25 678 
			  East Midlands 6,246 7 252 
			  West Midlands 8,680 8 593 
			  East of England 7,671 12 319 
			  London 7,112 38 673 
			  South East Coast 6,766 20 484 
			  South Central 4,414 35 836 
			  South West 8,720 32 935 
			  England total 172,676 203 15,256 
			 1 Providers that are not based in England have been removed, and therefore the national totals may not be equal to the sum of the regional totals. 
		
	
	The following table shows how many knee replacement revisions were carried out by the national health service in England in the last three years. Information relating to how long the average time interval was between total knee replacement and subsequent revision procedures is not held centrally.
	
		
			  Region Full knee replacement Only one bone in the knee joint is replaced 
			 2010-11 North East 456 * 
			  North West 825 * 
			  Yorkshire and the Humber 759 * 
			  East Midlands 551 * 
			  West Midlands 751 * 
			  East of England 733 * 
		
	
	
		
			  London 738 * 
			  South East Coast 673 * 
			  South Central 670 * 
			  South West 868 7 
			  England Total 7,024 25 
			     
			 2011-12 North East 422 * 
			  North West 704 * 
			  Yorkshire and the Humber 751 * 
			  East Midlands 547 * 
			  West Midlands 728 * 
			  East of England 612 * 
			  London 747 * 
			  South East Coast 613 * 
			  South Central 576 * 
			  South West 839 * 
			  England Total 6,539 14 
			     
			 2012-13 North East 396 * 
			  North West 759 * 
			  Yorkshire and the Humber 677 * 
			  East Midlands 572 * 
			  West Midlands 713 * 
			  East of England 596 * 
			  London 768 * 
			  South East Coast 584 * 
			  South Central 545 * 
			  South West 915 8 
			  England Total 6,525 18 
			 Notes: 1. Finished Consultant Episode (FCE): Both tables show FCEs. An FCE is a continuous period of admitted patient care under one consultant within one healthcare provider. FCEs are counted against the year in which they end. The figures do not represent the number of different patients, as a person. 2. The data should not be described as a count of people as the same person may have been admitted on one or more occasion. 3. To protect patient confidentiality, figures between 1 and 5 have been replaced with “*” (an asterisk). Where it was still possible to identify figures from the total, additional figures have been replaced with "*”.

Lung Diseases: Transplant Surgery

David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the performance of the lung transplant allocation system; and what steps he is taking to ensure that as many lung transplants as possible are made available to cystic fibrosis sufferers.

Jane Ellison: Donated lungs are currently allocated to the designated cardiothoracic transplant centres on a zonal basis. However, the Cardiothoracic Organs Advisory Group (CTAG) has recently reviewed the allocation policy and has recommended that the size of the allocation zones be adjusted to help ensure equity of access. NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) has therefore confirmed that, for cardiothoracic organs, the zones will be reviewed in August 2014 to coincide with changes in liver allocation zones, and from August 2015 heart and lung zones will be disaggregated and the zones reviewed separately.
	CTAG has also recommended that NHSBT review the consequences of introducing two levels of priority for listing for lung transplants—urgent and routine; and suggest a national allocation scheme for urgent listed patients, and zonal allocation for routine listed patients.
	Any change would need to be validated by NHSBT, to review the criteria for urgent listing and the statistical modelling of the potential impact of such a system. NHSBT will continue to work closely with the Cystic Fibrosis Trust to improve outcomes for patients requiring lung transplants.

Lung Diseases: Transplant Surgery

David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what proportion of donated lungs are successfully transplanted.

Jane Ellison: The information requested is in the following table:
	
		
			 Proportion of donated lungs successfully transplanted over the last five financial years, 2009-14 
			  Percentage 
			 2013-14 23 
			 2012-13 22 
			 2011-12 23 
			 2010-11 21 
			 2009-10 18 
			 Source: NHS Blood and Transplant 
		
	
	NHS Blood and Transplant works closely with clinicians to ensure donated organs are used for transplantation wherever appropriate.
	It is the responsibility of the surgeon to decide whether to accept the donor organs for use in transplantation. Lungs not accepted for transplant are rejected both before retrieval and at retrieval, or occasionally at allocation. The surgeon will base the decision on the characteristics of both the donor and the potential recipient. Donor factors include past and present medical, social, clinical and laboratory data as well as a thorough examination of the organs before, during and after retrieval.

NHS Foundation Trusts: Public Appointments

Frank Dobson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health with reference to the answer of 16 December 2013, Official Report, column 524W, on NHS: public appointments, where the data showing the gender of people appointed to the boards of NHS foundation trusts is held.

Jane Ellison: This information is not collected centrally. Information on the constitution of individual national health service foundation trust boards is available in the annual report of each foundation trust.

NHS: Competition

Jamie Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many requests for advice on competition related issues Monitor received from each (a) NHS trust and (b) foundation trust in 2013-14.

Jane Ellison: Monitor receives a variety of requests for support from stakeholders including national health service trusts and foundation trusts. These include requests for advice and support on issues including commissioning, the development of integrated care models and service reconfiguration. It is not possible to determine which of these requests are ‘competition related’ as they represent a wide variety of issues and scenarios. In 2013-14, Monitor’s Co-operation and Competition Directorate had 12 general requests for advice from NHS trusts and 23 general requests for advice from NHS foundation trusts.

NHS: Competition

Jamie Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  how much Monitor (a) spent in 2013-14 and (b) plans to spend in 2014-15 on the enforcement of the NHS Provider Licence;
	(2)  how much Monitor (a) spent in 2013-14 and (b) plans to spend in 2014-15 on the enforcement of the licence conditions relating to choice and competition as set out in section 3 of the NHS Provider Licence Standard Conditions.

Jane Ellison: The information requested is not available. The cost of specific enforcement activity is not disaggregated in Monitor's internal reporting systems.

NHS: Competition

Jamie Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much Monitor spent in 2013-14 on supporting NHS trusts in relation to the competition aspects of mergers and acquisitions; how much Monitor intends to so spend in 2014-15; which trusts have received such support to date; and which trusts he anticipates will require such support in 2014-15.

Jane Ellison: The information requested is not available. Such expenditure is not disaggregated in Monitor’s internal report systems.
	Monitor provides informal advice to organisations considering mergers on a confidential basis and Monitor is therefore unable to provide a list of trusts that have received support. However I can state that in 2013-14 Monitor provided advice relating to mergers to 21 trusts.
	Monitor’s statutory advice to the Competition and Markets Authority on merger transactions is published on its website:
	www.gov.uk/government/organisations/monitor
	It is not possible for Monitor to predict how many trusts will require such support in future.

NHS: Competition

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many requests for advice on competition-related issues the NHS Trust Development Authority received from each NHS trusts in 2013-14.

Jane Ellison: This information is not collected by the NHS Trust Development Authority.

NHS: Competition

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  how much the NHS Trust Development Authority spent in 2013-14 on the enforcement of the licence conditions relating to choice and competition as set out in section 3 of the NHS Provider Licence Standards Conditions; and how much the NHS Trust Development Authority expects to spend in this area in 2014-15;
	(2)  how much the NHS Trust Development Authority spent in 2013-14 on the enforcement of the licence conditions as set out on page three of the Partnership Agreement with Monitor; and how much the NHS Trust Development Authority plans to spend in this area in 2014-15.

Jane Ellison: As part of its oversight and escalation process, the NHS Trust Development Authority asks NHS trusts to self-certify compliance with the licence conditions relating to choice and competition. Therefore, the NHS Trust Development Authority has not incurred related expenditure in 2013-14 and does not plan any expenditure in 2014-15 over and above the costs of the teams that manage the oversight and escalation process more generally.
	There were no instances requiring the enforcement of licence conditions set out on page three of the Partnership Agreement with Monitor in 2013-14 and there has been no expenditure. The NHS Trust Development Authority is not planning any spend in this area in 2014-15.

NHS: Competition

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much the NHS Trust Development Authority spent in 2013-14 to support NHS trusts in relation to the competition aspects of mergers and acquisitions; which trusts required such support; how much the NHS Trust Development Authority plans to spend in this area in 2014-15; and if he will publish a list of those trusts requiring such support.

Jane Ellison: While the NHS Trust Development Authority contributes to costs of mergers and acquisitions, it is not able to disaggregate the spend into different components. Information in relation to the specific competition aspects of this spend is therefore not available.
	The NHS Trust Development Authority does not record requests for support from trusts. All such requests are directed to Monitor or the Competition and Markets Authority for advice, as the expert bodies on mergers and acquisitions.

Pharmacy

Oliver Colvile: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when he expects to be able to introduce the sharing of patient data with community pharmacists in support of patient safety in England.

Daniel Poulter: Local solutions are presently being developed. In addition, NHS England has commissioned the Health and Social Care Information Centre to deliver a “proof of concept” project in order to enable 80-100 community pharmacies, across 2 or 3 geographical areas, to access the Summary Care Record (SCR). Subject to the proof of concept, the SCR should provide a platform which will enable pharmacists and pharmacy technicians to view prescribed medicines, allergies and adverse reactions for patients who go to their pharmacy for urgent or unscheduled care.
	The project aims to:
	determine if SCR viewing can be safely implemented in community pharmacies and will add value to existing practice and patients’ experience by improving quality, safety and continuity of care;
	identify the optimum model for implementation should the proof of concept conclude that SCR access provides added value; and
	assess whether providing community pharmacies with access to the SCR has the potential to relieve the increasing demands on the wider health care system.
	It is planned that the first pharmacies will go live towards the end of 2014, with the project due to provide its findings and recommendations early in 2015. Further plans will be developed based on those findings and will be published in due course.

Pharmacy

Oliver Colvile: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps he is taking to ensure that the expertise of community pharmacists is fully utilised to reduce the burden on general practice.

Norman Lamb: Pharmacy already plays a vital role in supporting the health of people in their local communities, providing high quality care and support, improving people’s health and reducing health inequalities. As we move to more integrated care, there is real potential for pharmacists and their teams to play an even greater role in the future, particularly in keeping people healthy, supporting those with long-term conditions and helping make sure patients and the national health service get the best use from medicines.
	The Department and NHS England’s publication Transforming Primary Care—Safe, proactive, personalised care for those who need it most, sets out plans for more proactive, personalised and joined up care, part of which is harnessing the potential of pharmacists. This recognises the vital role that pharmacists have in optimising medicines use, helping to prevent avoidable hospital admissions and supporting people to manage their own care. A copy has already been placed in the Library.
	NHS England’s public consultation, Improving care through community pharmacy–a call to action, has provided an important opportunity to explore the contribution community pharmacists and their teams can make. This will inform a strategic framework for commissioning wider primary care services in the autumn, including consideration of fully utilising the expertise of community pharmacists in reducing burdens on other health services, such as general practice. A copy of the consultation document is at:
	www.england.nhs.uk/ourwork/qual-clin-lead/calltoaction/pharm-cta/

Prostate Cancer

Nadine Dorries: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps he is taking to ensure the same standard of care across the country for those diagnosed with prostate cancer.

Jane Ellison: To help reduce regional variations, the Care Quality Commission (CQC) is increasingly incorporating information from accreditation and peer review programmes into its assessments of national health service trusts' services, including the National Cancer Peer Review Programme. The CQC also intends to use data from the national clinical audit which is being developed for prostate cancer. In addition, national statistics on waiting times experienced by patients with suspected and diagnosed cancers continue to be collected, monitored and published in order to improve equity of access to cancer services and to contribute to an improvement in survival rates.
	The results of the latest national Cancer Patient Experience Survey (CPES) from 2013 show that, while variations between trusts still exist, the overall range of variation for many indicators has narrowed. For example, in 2010 the proportion of patients saying that they had been given the name of a clinical nurse specialist ranged from 92% in the highest performing trust to 59% in the poorest performing trust (33 points); by 2013 this had reduced to 97% to 76% (21 points).
	NHS Improving Quality (NHS IQ) will be doing a suite of work across all surveys to understand what the barriers are to implementing change and to showcase best practice where real improvements can be demonstrated.
	NHS England is working with NHS IQ to develop better ways of using the CPES data within the NHS in order to maximise the impact of the survey, to be able to work with successful and struggling organisations to spread best practice for example.

Prostate Cancer

Nadine Dorries: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will include prostate cancer in the next Be Clear on Cancer awareness campaign; and if he will make a statement.

Jane Ellison: Be Clear on Cancer campaigns are tested at a local and regional level, before a decision is taken on whether to run them nationally throughout England.
	Public Health England is actively considering potential local pilot activity specifically targeting prostate cancer within Black African-Caribbean men, due to their significantly increased risk of developing prostate cancer.

Universal Credit

Chris Bryant: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will estimate the cost to the public purse of extending entitlement to (a) free prescriptions, (b) free eye tests and (c) free dental care to all claimants of universal credit once universal credit has been fully rolled out.

Jane Ellison: The cost to the public purse of extending entitlement to free prescriptions, eye tests and dental care to all claimants of universal credit once universal credit has been fully rolled out will depend on the number of claimants at that time. This number will depend on a range of factors. The Government intend that broadly the same number of individuals will be passported via universal credit as are currently passported.

Warrington and Halton Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Helen Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what recent discussions he has had on the financial position of Warrington and Halton NHS Foundation Trust; and if he will make a statement.

Jane Ellison: No ministerial discussions have taken place on this matter in the last six months.

NORTHERN IRELAND

Work Experience

Ivan Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what her Department's policy is on work experience placements; and how many such placement requests have been accepted in each year since 2010.

Theresa Villiers: There have been no work experience placements in my Department since 2010.

ELECTORAL COMMISSION COMMITTEE

Electoral Register

Chris Ruane: To ask the hon. Member for South West Devon, representing the Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission, how many of the six million people identified as missing on the electoral register by the Electoral Commission in 2011 have been registered to vote in each year since 2011.

Gary Streeter: The Electoral Commission informs me that its last GB wide study into the completeness of electoral registers was completed in 2011. This type of research does not specifically identify unregistered individuals but provides an assessment of the overall accuracy and completeness of the registers. The Commission’s next study is being published in July and this will update the picture on levels of completeness in 2014.

Electoral Register

Chris Ruane: To ask the hon. Member for South West Devon, representing the Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission, what the target was for each voter registration drive of the last five years of the number of electors they hoped to register; how much was allocated for each campaign; and how much the Electoral Commission planned to spend on each registration drive.

Gary Streeter: The Electoral Commission informs me that the information requested for the years 2010 to 2013 was provided to the hon. Member in response to his PQs 189416 (6 March 2014, Official Report, column 892W) and 185198 (3 February 2014, Official Report, column 61W).
	In addition, for 2014, the Commission ran a registration campaign for the local and European Parliamentary Elections which were held on 22 May. The campaign budget was £2,800,000 and there was a target of 150,000 registration form downloads. 207,000 downloads were achieved during the campaign.

Electoral Register

Chris Ruane: To ask the hon. Member for South West Devon, representing the Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission, 
	(1)  how many times an electoral registration officer (ERO) has to fail Standard Three before the Electoral Commission will refer the ERO to the Minister of State for the Cabinet Office for the purpose of improving the performance of the ERO;
	(2)  on what date the discussions between the Electoral Commission and the Cabinet Office on sanctions against electoral registration officers (EROs) who refuse to conduct door-to-door canvassing as per Standard Three began; when those discussions will conclude; whether the conclusions of those discussions will be made available to (a) hon. Members with EROs who failed Standard Three, (b) the Political and Constitutional Reform Committee and (c) councillors within failed local authorities; and if he will place in the Library the conclusions of those discussions.

Gary Streeter: The Commission informs me that it has reported on ERO performance against Standard 3 for each year since 2008.
	To support EROs in preparing for and delivering the transition to individual electoral registration (IER) the Commission has developed a new performance standards framework, which it will use to monitor the performance of EROs against throughout the transition to individual electoral registration. The Commission will continue to carefully monitor and work closely with EROs and will consider a range of options to ensure EROs are carrying out their duties in full.
	Discussions between the Electoral Commission and the Cabinet Office take place regularly on a range of subjects.
	The Commission made clear in its June report that it would use its statutory powers to make a recommendation to the Secretary of State to require specific EROs to do door-to-door canvassing if this did not happen during the introduction of IER, which began on 10 June in England and Wales.
	No specific date for conclusion has been set as it will depend on the circumstances in each area, but the Commission will continue to keep this under active review. Should the Commission make a recommendation for such a direction, it will write to the relevant hon. Members and local council leaders. We will also write to the Political and Constitutional Reform Committee and ask for this correspondence to be placed in the House Library.

Electoral Register

Chris Ruane: To ask the hon. Member for South West Devon, representing the Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission, on which dates the Electoral Commission will report to (a) Parliament and (b) individual hon. Members on the progress on the implementation of individual electoral registration.

Gary Streeter: The Commission informs me that it will report to both Parliament and individual Members at appropriate points, and in line with its statutory duties throughout the implementation of individual electoral registration.
	The Commission intends to publish updates on progress at three key points in the transition, as laid out in its March report. This is available on the Commission’s website here:
	www.electoralcommission.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0020/166511/Readiness-for-the-transition-to-IER-Progress-Report-March-2014.pdf

Electoral Register

Chris Ruane: To ask the hon. Member for South West Devon, representing the Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission, on what specific date the Electoral Commission plans to publish its estimate of the number of people missing off the electoral register.

Gary Streeter: The Commission informs me that it will publish this report shortly.

CABINET OFFICE

Average Earnings: Warrington

Helen Jones: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what estimate the UK Statistics Authority has made of the gross weekly earnings of (a) men, (b) women and (c) all people employed (i) full-time and (ii) part-time in Warrington North constituency.

Nick Hurd: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
	Letter from Glen Watson, dated July 2014
	As Director General for the Office for National Statistics, I have been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question asking the Minister for the Cabinet Office what estimate the UK Statistics Authority has made of the gross weekly earnings of (a) men, (b) women and (c) all people employed (i) full-time and (ii) part-time in Warrington North constituency (203040).
	The Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE), carried out in April each year, is the most comprehensive source of earnings information in the United Kingdom. Weekly levels of earnings are estimated from ASHE, and are provided for employees on adult rates of pay, whose earnings for the survey pay period were not affected by absence. Figures relate to employee jobs, which are defined as those held by employees and not the self-employed. Additional sources of income such as benefit payments, rental income and pensions are not covered in ASHE.
	The following table shows estimates of median gross weekly earnings for male, female and all employees working full-time and part-time in Warrington North constituency in April 2013, the latest period for which results are available.
	
		
			 Median gross weekly earnings (£) for employees1 in Warrington North constituency in April 2013 
			  Full-time employees Part-time employees 
			 All *491.6 **166.1 
			 Male *522.3 x 
			 Female **425.2 **169.0 
			 1 Employee jobs are defined as those held by employees and not the self-employed. Figures relate to employees on adult rates whose pay for the survey pay-period was not affected by absence. ASHE is based on a 1% sample of jobs taken from HM Revenue and Customs' Pay As You Earn (PAYE) records. Consequently, individuals with more than one job may appear in the sample more than once. Guide to quality: The coefficient of variation (CV) indicates the quality of a figure; the smaller the CV value, the higher the quality. The true value is likely to lie within +/- twice the CV—for example, for an average of 200 with a CV of 5%, we would expect the population average to be within the range 180 to 220. Key: CV >5% and<= 10% CV > 10% and <= 20% x = Unreliable CV = Coefficient of Variation Source: Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE), Office for National Statistics Trusted Statistics—Understanding the UK

Civil Servants: Equal Pay

Keith Vaz: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what steps he is taking to ensure gender equality in civil service salaries.

Francis Maude: The median gender pay gap for full-time civil servants has narrowed since 2010 but we must continue to press to narrow the gap further, including by reminding Departments of their clear legal obligations on equal pay and conducting equal pay audits. Salaries for new appointments must be justified on the basis of the skills and experience necessary to do the job. For staff below the senior civil service (SCS), this is for individual Departments to manage. For the centrally-managed SCS, pay proposals have regard to the impact on women.
	More widely, the Government are concerned that a long-standing majority of women in the overall civil service, does not translate into a similar proportion in the SCS. I have commissioned work to address this issue.

Government Departments: Procurement

David Crausby: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what Government spending was in reform of the process of procurement and across central Government in each year since May 2010.

Nick Hurd: The Cabinet Office has been working with central Government Departments to implement a demanding Commercial Reform agenda which is aimed at leveraging the Crown’s buying power, deriving better value for money and savings for the taxpayer to support deficit reduction and growth. This work has been carried out across Departments and costs are not held centrally.
	As a result of our work to date, we have made the way we buy goods and services in central Government quicker, more competitive, more transparent, better value and far simpler than before. This has saved the taxpayer £2.9 billion in 2010-11, with a further £3.0 billion in 2011-12, £3.8 billion in 2012-13 and £5.4 billion in 2013-14. These savings are all calculated against a 2009-10 baseline and include both recurring and non-recurring items.
	All of this could have been started before the 2010 General Election. However in May 2010 there was no effective central oversight of procurement, commercial skills were lacking and Government did not even know who their strategic suppliers were, let alone how much was being spent with them.

WOMEN AND EQUALITIES

Marriage Certificates

Julian Huppert: To ask the Ministers for Women and Equalities what progress she has made on modernising marriage certificates.

Sajid Javid: I have discussed modernising marriage certificates with the Home Secretary and we are currently considering a range of options. The content of marriage registers has not changed since civil marriage was introduced in 1837, so it is right that we look at whether it still meets our needs.

HOME DEPARTMENT

Cheshire Constabulary

Helen Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much funding has been allocated to Cheshire Police in (a) cash and (b) real terms in each year since 2005.

Karen Bradley: The table shows the amount of core Government revenue funding provided by the Home Office to the Cheshire Police Authority (from November 2012, the Police and Crime Commissioner for Cheshire) since 2005-2006.
	Due to changes in police revenue funding over this time period (which includes a change in the way pensions are funded), it is difficult to compare spending power between years.
	
		
			  Total HO funding (£ million) 
			  Cash1 Real (2012-13 prices)2 
			 2005-06 77.0 91.6 
			 2006-07 72.7 84.2 
			 2007-08 74.1 83.7 
			 2008-09 75.8 83.2 
			 2009-10 77.6 82.9 
			 2010-11 77.7 81.0 
			 2011-12 74.4 75.7 
			 2012-13 69.1 69.1 
			 2013-143 117.5 115.2 
			 2014-154 112.6 108.1 
			 1 Figures include specific grants that have since been rolled into Police Main Grant (including Rule 2 Grant, the Neighbourhood Policing Fund and, from 2013-14, the Community Safety Fund) in order to provide consistency over the time period. 2 Real figures are calculated using the latest GDP deflators. These are updated and published regularly by Her Majesty’s Treasury and therefore can change the way that the real figures in the table are represented. 3, 4 From 2013-14 formula grant funding which in previous years had been paid by the Department for Communities and Local Government was transferred to the Home Office to pay to PCCs. This amounted to £49 million in 2013-14 and £46.7 million in 2014-15. Notes : 1. From 2014-15, the Home Office is also paying out Council Tax Freeze Grant (including funding relating to the 2011-12 scheme paid to Cheshire) and Local Council Tax Support (LCTS) funding to PCCs in England. This amount was previously paid by the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG). This will total £7.67 million for Cheshire in 2014-15 and is excluded from the table to assist comparison with previous years. 2. In addition, the police in England also receive central Government grant from other sources including the DCLG. They also receive funding from the police precept component of council tax and a small amount of income from charging for additional services.

Domestic Violence: Preston

Mark Hendrick: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many call-outs police in Preston attended in response to domestic violence in 2013.

Norman Baker: The requested data are not collected centrally by the Home Office. Data are available on the number of domestic abuse incidents that come to the attention of the police but these are only held at police force area level.

Educational Testing Service

David Hanson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the statement of 24 June 2014, Official Report, column 206, on student visas, what due diligence tests her Department undertook on the Educational Testing Service prior to awarding the company a contract for delivering language tests for visa applications.

James Brokenshire: The licence with Secure English Language Testing providers is clear that providers must put measures in place to combat abuse and any concerns regarding fraud or abuse should be reported to the Home Office. All third-party service providers, whether they are employers, education establishments or test providers, must take their obligations seriously or face the removal of their licence to work with us.

Educational Testing Service

David Hanson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the statement of 24 June 2014, Official Report, column 206, on student visas, on what date her Department first became aware of the systematic cheating taking place in the tests of the Educational Testing Service.

James Brokenshire: Since the last election, the Government have taken action to reduce and control immigration and to crack down on the abuse of the system which the previous Government failed to address. We have kept the main immigration routes to Britain under review and remain vigilant against abuse of the student visa system. Around 750 education sponsors have been removed from the register of those entitled to bring overseas students to the UK. We now know that almost 400 of these were linked to the sponsorship of people who obtained invalid ETS certificates. Abuse of the student visa route has been the subject of various lines of inquiry for some time, but Immigration Enforcement officers, together with officials from UK Visas and Immigration and with the support of the National Crime Agency, began conducting a detailed and wide-ranging investigation into actions by organised criminals to falsify English language tests provided by ETS at the start of February.

Entry Clearances: Overseas Students

David Hanson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the statement of 24 June 2014, Official Report, column 206, on student visas, how many students wrongly awarded language certificates (a) remain in the UK, (b) have an address known to her Department and (c) have been deported.

James Brokenshire: As I stated on 24 June in my statement to Parliament, the Home Office will provide regular updates to the House on progress with work to remove these students and on further information we receive from ETS.

Entry Clearances: Overseas Students

David Hanson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the statement of 24 June 2014, Official Report, column 209W, on student visas, what the projected cost in 2014-15 is of the student dedicated helpline; how many staff will be employed on that helpline; and what estimate she has made of the number of calls that helpline will receive.

James Brokenshire: The number of calls the student helpline will receive will be dependent on the demand from individual students.
	10 members of staff can currently be deployed on the student helpline, depending on the demand, and additional trained staff are ready for redeployment should the volume of calls increase.

Human Trafficking: Children

Greg Mulholland: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if she will bring forward legislative proposals to establish a statutory system of guardianship to support victims of child trafficking.

Karen Bradley: The Modern Slavery Bill, published on 10 June 2014, includes an enabling clause which provides a statutory basis for child trafficking advocates and their functions including the circumstances and conditions under which a person may act as an advocate.
	The clause provides the Secretary of State with a power to make arrangements so that specialist child trafficking advocates are available to support and represent children who there is reason to believe may be victims of trafficking. It also allows for requirements on public authorities to co-operate with and provide information to these advocates.
	Trials of the child trafficking advocates scheme will commence in summer 2014. The trials will be independently evaluated both at six months and on completion. A report on the findings will be laid before Parliament.

Passports

Cathy Jamieson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department 
	(1)  what the target time is for dealing with passport applications;
	(2)  what proportion of passport applications have been dealt with within the target timescale in each of the last 12 months.

James Brokenshire: Expected service standards for passport applications are given at
	www.gov.uk
	Information in respect of the Member’s constituency is not available and the cost of collating it would be disproportionate.
	The following table shows the proportions of UK passport applications in each of the last 12 months which have been processed within the published service standards.
	
		
			  Percentage straight forward applications processed within the published time scales Percentage non-straightforward applications processed within the published time scales 
			 2013   
			 June 100 97.8 
			 July 100 96.9 
			 August 100 96.4 
			 September 100 96.0 
			 October 100 95.9 
			 November 99.99 96.5 
			 December 99.99 96.3 
			    
			 2014   
			 January 99.99 96.8 
			 February 99.98 98.1 
			 March 99.95 96.8 
			 April 98.59 99.6 
			 May 92.26 93.9

Passports

Alison McGovern: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what discussions she has had with the Immigration and Passport Service on (a) the service's ability to meet the three-week timescale for processing an application for a child passport and (b) possible extension of that timescale.

James Brokenshire: Expected service standards for processing passports are given at:
	www.gov.uk
	The Secretary of State for the Home Department explained in the House on 12 June a set of measures to deal with the high level of passport demand has been put in place. I refer the hon. Member to the statement of 12 June 2014, Official Report, columns 693-94.

Passports

Tom Greatrex: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate she has made of the number of passport applications submitted in each month since June 2010; and how many such applications were processed within three weeks of receipt.

James Brokenshire: The following table gives the requested information.
	
		
			 Month Number of straightforward applications Number processed within three weeks 
			 January 2013 315,467 315,424 
			 February 2013 368,035 368,003 
			 March 2013 343,103 343,097 
			 April 2013 384,487 384,477 
			 May 2013 420,209 420,204 
			 June 2013 421,757 421,755 
			 July 2013 388,781 388,770 
			 August 2013 285,055 285,050 
			 September 2013 231,979 231,971 
			 October 2013 207,083 207,079 
			 November 2013 179,323 179,312 
			 December 2013 115,461 115,448 
			 January 2014 274,120 274,097 
			 February 2014 360,087 359,997 
			 March 2014 406,736 406,517 
			 April 2014 416,591 414,882 
			 May 2014 376,403 347,256

Passports

David Hanson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what her Department's definition of straightforward is in relation to passport applications.

James Brokenshire: A straightforward application is one where all the required information, including supporting documentation, is provided, the application is signed, and no further inquiries are required in order to progress the application.

Passports: Kilmarnock

Cathy Jamieson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many applications for passports have been made by residents in Kilmarnock and Loudoun in each of the last 12 months.

James Brokenshire: Expected service standards for passport applications are given at:
	www.gov.uk
	Information in respect of the Member’s constituency is not available and the cost of collating it would be disproportionate. The table below shows the proportions of UK passport applications in each of the last 12 months which have been processed within the published service standards.
	
		
			 Percentage 
			  Straightforward applications processed within the published timescales Non-straightforward applications processed within the published timescales 
			 2013   
			 June 100 97.8 
			 July 100 96.9 
			 August 100 96.4 
			 September 100 96.0 
			 October 100 95.9 
			 November 99.99 96.5 
			 December 99.99 96.3 
			    
			 2014   
			 January 99.99 96.8 
			 February 99.98 98.1 
			 March 99.95 96.8 
			 April 98.59 99.6 
			 May 92.26 93.9

Rape

Helen Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps she is taking to encourage more rape victims to report that crime to the police and to ensure that they are treated appropriately when they do so.

Norman Baker: Rape and sexual violence are devastating and unacceptable crimes. The coalition Government’s continued approach to tackling such violence and abuse is set out in our Violence against Women and Girls Action Plan, updated in March 2014. Supporting victims is at the heart of this approach, which includes giving victims more confidence to report crimes, and it is encouraging that police recorded crime figures show more victims are having the confidence to come forward.
	We want every report of rape to be treated seriously from the point of disclosure, every victim to be treated with dignity and every investigation and every prosecution to be conducted thoroughly and professionally.
	We have ring-fenced funding for 87 independent sexual violence advisers to provide appropriate and independent support for victims.
	We have supported the publication of data on rape for every police force in the country as a basis for improving recording and investigations of rape and to ensure that guidance on investigating and prosecuting rape is implemented in every police force area. Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary is inspecting the recording of rape as part of a wider crime recording audit, and the police and Crown Prosecution Service have published a joint action plan to improve how these cases are handled within the criminal justice system.

Stalking

Helen Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people in each police force area have been (a) arrested and (b) prosecuted for cyber-stalking to date.

Karen Bradley: The information requested cannot be provided as cyber-stalking is not defined as a specific crime on the statute book.

Surveillance

Adrian Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether she plans to amend the Interception of Communications Code of Practice to include provisions for identifying and reporting interception errors.

James Brokenshire: We will respond to the Interception of Communications Commissioner's report in due course.

Surveillance

Adrian Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps she is taking to improve the quality of statistics held by Government agencies relating to data communication interceptions.

James Brokenshire: The Interception Commissioner publishes information on communications data (CD) and interception warrants. His 2013 report published in April set out for the first time a detailed breakdown by public authority of the number of CD authorisations and notices issued. We are considering the Commissioner's recommendations and will respond in due course.

Surveillance: Appeals

Adrian Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when she plans to bring section 67(9) of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 into force.

James Brokenshire: We have no plans to bring section 67 (9) of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 into force as provisions to which it relates in sections 65(c) and (d) of RIPA are themselves not in force.

DEFENCE

Armed Forces: Training

Bridget Phillipson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will place a copy of 2014DIN07-082 on 2014/2015 Defence Cyber Practitioner Courses in the Library.

Mark Francois: I have placed a redacted copy of the Defence Information Notice 2014DIN07-082 in the Library of the House.

Energy

Tom Greatrex: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what estimate he has made of his Department's consumption in kWh of (a) gas and (b) electricity in each month since June 2010; and what the cost of such consumption has been in each such month.

Andrew Murrison: The table shows the breakdown of consumption and expenditure relating to gas and electricity for each month since June 2010. Figures are not yet available for the first quarter of financial year 2014-15
	The expenditure data represent physical payments in addition to the accrued expenditure posted to the Ministry of Defence accounts each month.
	Expenditure also includes standing charges as well as costs of pure consumption.
	
		
			  Consumption profiled by month (KWh) Expenditure profiled by month (£) 
			  (a) Gas (b) Electricity (a) Gas (b) Electricity 
			 April 2010 220,858,128 129,901,857 2,444,926 6,790,475 
			 May 2010 164,775,053 86,700,211 2,213,132 16,751,076 
			 June 2010 95,787,907 104,218,404 8,537,291 10,081,041 
			 July 2010 73,950,249 109,711,397 4,472,213 16,594,012 
			 August 2010 79,657,819 98,280,034 2,408,066 13,312,634 
			 September 2010 95,043,441 110,750,612 6,788,549 15,271,722 
			 October 2010 179,416,209 122,478,894 4,255,702 12,688,132 
			 November 2010 332,031,657 134,504,094 7,032,081 20,373,422 
			 December 2010 389,107,353 145,044,702 10,887,374 13,390,497 
			 January 2011 337,242,916 146,380,835 9,265,512 17,653,989 
			 February 2011 298,282,550 145,935,458 15,552,720 17,602,546 
			 March 2011 215,398,713 150,389,236 18,665,001 23,855,343 
			 April 2011 174,257,770 124,679,807 6,747,484 5,508,966 
			 May 2011 130,008,044 83,214,865 10,753,516 15,732,466 
			 June 2011 75,576,965 100,028,828 -1,894,053 8,710,276 
			 July 2011 58,346,984 105,301,003 195,351 15,144,816 
			 August 2011 62,850,274 94,329,180 5,757,534 17,116,742 
			 September 2011 74,989,580 106,298,441 5,964,535 16,803,102 
			 October 2011 141,559,963 117,555,246 9,068,629 16,886,451 
			 November 2011 261,974,040 129,097,034 11,144,607 17,037,146 
			 December 2011 307,006,947 139,213,910 10,145,321 14,657,293 
			 January 2012 266,085,740 140,496,331 8,975,452 21,271,344 
			 February 2012 235,345,887 140,068,857 12,544,421 20,317,807 
			 March 2012 169,950,274 144,343,593 13,365,905 22,673,632 
			 April 2012 155,275,264 129,636,842 -4,376,500 -7,425,061 
			 May 2012 115,845,815 86,523,333 11,751,610 9,240,506 
			 June 2012 67,344,103 104,005,787 24,086,408 31,517,521 
			 July 2012 51,991,043 109,487,573 7,159,533 21,746,099 
			 August 2012 56,003,775 98,079,531 5,502,409 20,153,798 
			 September 2012 66,820,704 110,524,668 8,171,910 30,692,661 
			 October 2012 126,139,344 122,229,023 4,051,582 2,740,964 
			 November 2012 233,436,296 134,229,691 13,854,421 22,356,128 
			 December 2012 273,563,611 144,748,794 3,772,567 17,644,304 
			 January 2013 237,100,094 146,082,202 20,293,334 20,142,302 
			 February 2013 209,708,840 145,637,733 15,206,442 18,858,516 
			 March 2013 151,436,999 150,082,425 12,578,544 21,191,006 
			 April 2013 175,435,384 121,119,864 13,097,470 13,392,638 
			 May 2013 130,886,623 80,838,858 1,056,802 20,339,134 
			 June 2013 76,087,706 97,172,737 13,337,243 17,735,824 
			 July 2013 58,741,286 102,294,377 2,720,868 17,888,759 
			 August 2013 63,275,009 91,635,829 4,338,368 18,888,313 
			 September 2013 75,496,351 103,263,335 3,452,508 13,129,583 
			 October 2013 142,516,609 114,198,729 6,257,282 18,798,135 
			 November 2013 263,744,431 125,410,968 4,560,538 19,714,441 
			 December 2013 309,081,665 135,238,980 23,383,641 18,935,323 
			 January 2014 267,883,917 136,484,784 17,636,991 21,950,106 
			 February 2014 236,936,327 136,069,516 14,364,851 18,888,772 
			 March 2014 171,098,779 140,222,197 12,475,969 22,253,881

HMS Severn

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what Russian Navy ships HMS Severn intercepted in the English Channel on 25 June 2014; and whether HMS Severn was assigned to the Fleet Ready Escort role at that time.

Mark Francois: Two Russian Federation Navy ships transited the English Channel on 25 June 2014. These were the Ropucha Class Landing Ships Olengorsky Gornyak and Georgiy Pobedonosets.
	As the hon. Member will be aware from my letter to him of 27 January 2014, Official Report, columns 414-15W, there are usually a number of Royal Navy units available in UK waters at any one time and, if it is appropriate, one of those units could be reprioritised to undertake a required task. In this case, HMS Severn was better placed to respond, and it made the most operational sense to utilise her. At the same time the Fleet Ready Escort remained available at high readiness.

Minesweepers

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence when the Shallow Water Influence Minesweeping System was purchased; on what vessels it operated from; whether it is still operational; and what the total cost of the system has been.

Philip Dunne: The Shallow Water Influence Minesweeping System was purchased as an urgent operational requirement in financial year 2002-03 to be operated remotely from Mine Countermeasures Vessels in the Gulf for 12 months, at a cost of approximately £3.5 million. It has been non-operational since 2004.

Minesweepers

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how much was spent on the Unmanned Sea Vehicle-based Mine Countermeasures Hydrographic Programme Sweep Demonstrator project.

Philip Dunne: The Mine Countermeasures Hydrographic Programme’s sweep demonstrator project is in its pre-contract award stage; spending to date has been on technical preparation activities at a cost of approximately £40,000.

Nuclear Weapons

Paul Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will publish the titles of all reports covering the effects of the use of a UK nuclear weapon produced by (a) his Department and (b) the Atomic Weapons Establishment and its predecessor body for his Department in the last 30 years.

Philip Dunne: The information is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

RAF Lossiemouth

Menzies Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the cost has been of transfer of all Typhoon Force mission-specific equipment and related removable fittings and fixtures from RAF Leuchars to RAF Lossiemouth; and what estimate has been made of the total cost of the transfer.

Mark Francois: The principal transfer of Typhoon Force mission-specific equipment has been accomplished as part of an agreed change to an existing contract, at an additional cost of some £2.5 million.

RAF Menwith Hill

Fabian Hamilton: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what arrangements his Department has made with the US administration on control of the base at NSA Menwith Hill.

Mark Francois: RAF Menwith Hill is made available to the United States under the terms of the NATO Status of Forces Agreement. The Ministry of Defence retains ownership of the base and operations are carried out with the full knowledge and consent of the UK Government.

Submarines

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the cost is of the Weapon Handling and Launch System and Submerged Signal Ejector support contract.

Philip Dunne: The Weapon Handling and Launch System support contract, which includes Submerged Signal Ejector support, has an agreed fixed price of £22 million to provide defined technical and logistic support until 31 March 2019. The contract also allows for further tasking of the support contractor by the Ministry of Defence and the purchase of consumable spares when required at an additional cost.

Submarines

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether the Weapon Handling and Launch support contract includes an obligation on the contractor to provide waterfront support in the loading and unloading of (a) conventional and (b) nuclear weapons in (i) the UK and (ii) abroad.

Philip Dunne: The Weapon Handling and Launch System (WHLS) support contract provides technical and logistic support for all WHLS equipment on Royal Navy submarines and at Royal Navy training establishments, including Weapon Embarkation Equipment (WEE). The actual use of WEE to load and unload conventional weapons in the UK and abroad is covered by separate commercial arrangements. The WHLS support contract is not used for any aspect of nuclear weapons.

INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Energy

Tom Greatrex: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what estimate she has made of her Department's consumption in kWh of (a) gas and (b) electricity in each month since June 2010; and what the cost of such consumption has been in each such month.

Alan Duncan: DFID has UK Headquarter offices in Whitehall, London and East Kilbride, Glasgow. The weblink below sets out our actual gas and electricity monthly consumption in each office since June 2010:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-for-international-development/about/our-energy-use

ENVIRONMENT FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS

Bovine Tuberculosis

Greg Mulholland: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs which policies of other countries he has assessed with regards to the gassing of badgers.

George Eustice: Carbon monoxide gas has been used successfully in the United States and Australia to control a range of species including burrowing rodents, rabbits and larger mammals such as coyotes and foxes.

Bovine Tuberculosis

Greg Mulholland: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs 
	(1)  with reference to the answer to the hon. Member for Brighton, Pavilion of 25 November 2013, Official Report, column 20W, on bovine tuberculosis, whether his Department has since commissioned any research about the safety, humaneness and effectiveness of gassing badgers;
	(2)  if he will make an assessment of the potential suffering felt by badgers through gaseous methods of slaughter.

George Eustice: In August 2013, we commissioned new research into alternative methods of culling badgers.
	The first step involved reviewing and updating the 'Review of effectiveness, environmental impact, humaneness and feasibility of lethal methods for badger control' published in 2005. The review was completed in September 2013.
	Following research carried out as a result of Lord Zuckerman's review in the 1980s, we would not support the use of hydrogen cyanide gas due to humaneness concerns. However, we are considering potential humane alternatives.
	In October and November 2013 we carried out initial trials of nitrogen-filled foam to analyse its dispersal in an artificial sett-like environment. These trials did not involve the use of active setts or tests on live animals.
	Further research is now planned into the use of carbon monoxide as a potential sett-based means of humane culling.

Dredging

John Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what estimate his Department has made of the number of marine dredging applications that will be dealt with by the Marine Management Organisation using the online marine licensing system in 2014-15.

George Eustice: Since the beginning of 2014-15 the Marine Management Organisation (MMO) has dealt with five 15 year marine licences for aggregate dredging.
	For non-aggregate dredging DEFRA’s Impact Assessment on exemptions and navigational dredging predicted 872 applications ranging from simple, routine and complex applications for 2014-15 (Ref: IA No DEFRA 1118—The Marine Licensing (Exempted Activities) (Amendment) Order 2013). The actual annual number of applications being received so far is currently running at between 10% and 20% of the forecast.

Dredging

John Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what estimate his Department has made of the average length of time taken by the Marine Management Organisation to approve a marine dredging application using the outline marine licensing system since 2009.

George Eustice: The online marine licensing system came into force on 6 April 2011 following the formation of the Marine Management Organisation (MMO) in 2010. From the start of the licensing system the estimated average time taken by the MMO to approve marine dredging applications are as follows:
	Aggregate dredging
	Average length of time to licence a 15 year aggregate application is estimated at 300 hours (200 hours during application and 100 hours of pre-application advice).
	Non-aggregate dredging
	
		
			 Description of activity Average MMO hours per case 
			 Simple navigational dredging 3.5 
			 Routine navigational dredging 9 
			 Routine capital dredging 7.4 
			 Complex navigational dredging 13.35 
			 Complex capital dredging 11.88

Fishing Gear

Austin Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many people have been prosecuted for setting intertidal nets in England in each of the last three years.

George Eustice: Prosecutions for setting intertidal nets in England are undertaken, for the most part, by the Inshore Fisheries and Conservation Authorities (IFCAs). The 10 IFCAs manage sea fisheries resources to six nautical miles around the English coast.
	In 2011, North Eastern IFCA made one prosecution relating to intertidal nets and Cornwall IFCA had one case where a prosecution was commenced alongside another, potentially more serious, non-fisheries offence.
	In 2012 there were no prosecutions.
	In 2013, North Eastern IFCA made two prosecutions.
	To date in 2014, there are two cases under investigation by Cornwall IFCA, one case under investigation by North Eastern IFCA, and three pending cases with Southern IFCA. These cases will not necessarily result in a prosecution in a court.
	In all of these years there will be cases where warnings or cautions were issued or seizures were made instead of formal prosecutions.
	Environment Agency records indicate that 12 people have been prosecuted in the past three years for setting an intertidal net which targeted or caught salmon or sea trout for which they did not have an Environment Agency licence to do so in England.
	The River Tweed Commission (RTC) has its own legislation to control netting both in England and in Scotland which is included in The Scotland Act 1998 (River Tweed) Order 2006. In England, the RTC took seven prosecutions relating to intertidal nets in 2011, five prosecutions in 2012, and five prosecutions in 2013.

Fishing Gear

Austin Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many inshore fisheries and conservation authorities in England have bylaws to prohibit the setting of intertidal nets; and how many land-based officers in each authority police and enforce those bylaws.

George Eustice: Most Inshore Fisheries and Conservation Authorities (IFCAs) in England have byelaws which affect net fishing activities in the intertidal zone. These byelaws vary between IFCAs, with each authority prescribing certain net specifications, geographic areas, time restrictions and other limitations. Details of each IFCA’s byelaws can be found on their respective websites.
	The IFCAs with byelaws relating to intertidal nets are:
	Cornwall IFCA
	Devon and Severn IFCA
	Eastern IFCA
	Kent and Essex IFCA
	North Eastern IFCA
	North West IFCA
	Northumberland IFCA
	Southern IFCA
	Sussex IFCA
	Isles of Scilly IFCA is the only authority not to have any byelaws relating to intertidal nets, as this is not a fishing activity that takes place in the Isles of Scilly.
	Most IFCAs have enforcement officers based both on land and at sea. These officers enforce all byelaws, not specifically those concerning intertidal nets. The latest figures held by DEFRA are:
	Cornwall IFCA—12 officers
	Devon and Severn IFCA—eight officers
	Eastern IFCA—10 officers, three land based
	Kent and Essex IFCA—two land based officers, six sea based officers
	North Eastern IFCA—six officers, two dedicated land based
	North West IFCA—eight mostly land based officers
	Northumberland IFCA—eight officers and one part time
	Southern IFCA—10 officers
	Sussex IFCA—four officers

Forests

Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how much has been spent on biodiversity on the public forest estate in each year since 2004-05.

Dan Rogerson: While all sustainable forest management on the public forest estate can benefit biodiversity, the following table shows the money spent by the Forestry Commission specifically for the benefit of biodiversity:
	
		
			 Financial year Spend on public forest estate (£) 
			 2004-05 2,719,442 
			 2005-06 3,673,847 
			 2006-07 4,785,114 
			 2007-08 3,871,339 
			 2008-09 4,456,223 
			 2009-10 4,787,026 
			 2010-11 5,196,665 
		
	
	
		
			 2011-12 4,132,597 
			 2012-13 3,730,628 
			 2013-14 3,831,024

Forests

Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how much Government spending there was on public forest estate in each year since 2008-09.

Dan Rogerson: Government spending on the public forest estate since 2008-09 has been as follows:
	
		
			 Financial year £ million 
			 2008-09 18.7 
			 2009-10 14.3 
			 2010-11 7.9 
			 2011-12 14.6 
			 2012-13 26.1 
			 2013-14 19.9

Forests: Yorkshire and Humberside

Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many hectares of Forestry Commission public forest estate there was in Yorkshire and the Humber in each year since 2008-09; and what the make-up of such forest was.

Dan Rogerson: The latest figures for area of the Forestry Commission public forest estate in the Yorkshire and Humber region are set out in the table. The data is organised to show area of coniferous woodland and broadleaved woodland. Land on the public forest estate which does not fall into either of these two categories is shown as ‘other’; this includes open habitats and land waiting to be restocked after felling.
	
		
			  2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 
			 Broadleaved 2,488 2,594 2,680 2,704 2,749 2,782 
			 Conifer 15,015 14,726 14,446 14,285 14,030 13,923 
			 Other 4,267 4,362 4,244 4,259 4,469 4,545 
			  23,779 23,693 23,382 23,260 23,261 23,264

Natural England

Stephen Barclay: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if he will assess the level of public confidence in Natural England's appeals process.

George Eustice: Natural England is the determining body only for appeals relating to breaches of agri-environment agreements. The process for this includes provision for matters to be referred to an independent person or body, nominated by Natural England, for further consideration. There are no plans at present to make an assessment of the level of public confidence in this process.

Recycling: York

Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what proportion of waste collected in City of York has been recycled in each year since 2008-09; and what funding his Department provided to City of York local authority to increase recycling rates in each of those years.

Dan Rogerson: The proportion of household waste collected in City of York which was recycled for the five years since 2008-09 is presented in the following table:
	
		
			  Percentage (Rounded) 
			 2008-09 45 
			 2009-10 43 
			 2010-11 45 
			 2011-12 46 
			 2012-13 46 
		
	
	The proportion of all waste collected by City of York council (household and non-household) which was recycled for the five years since 2008-09 is as follows:
	
		
			  Percentage (Rounded) 
			 2008-09 44 
			 2009-10 42 
			 2010-11 44 
			 2011-12 46 
			 2012-13 45 
		
	
	These statistics are taken from data submitted by the council.
	Local authorities receive revenue support grant and council tax to fund waste collection and disposal. These funds are not ring-fenced. We have no record of funding to York City council specifically to increase recycling rates over this period.

FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH AFFAIRS

Armed Conflict: Sexual Offences

Kerry McCarthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will assign a focal point in all UK missions for human rights defenders, including women human rights defenders, to consult on and implement support and protection measures following the Ending Sexual Violence Initiative.

David Lidington: Human rights defenders (HRDs), including women HRDs, play a critical role in the fight against sexual violence in conflict through advocacy, documenting and reporting, providing support to survivors, and holding Governments to account. In recognition of the importance of their work, we supported the participation of a large number of HRDs at the Global Summit to End Sexual Violence in Conflict and have consulted them throughout the development of the Preventing Sexual Violence Initiative (PSVI). We will continue to do so as we take forward the outcomes of the Summit through our missions across the globe, both in conflict and post-conflict countries and with our other PSVI partners.
	Any UK post with a significant human rights element to its work already has an existing human rights focal point which would include responsibility for engaging with local HRDs. We also work locally with EU and other colleagues to support HRDs, in line with the EU Guidelines on HRDs and recently updated internal guidance, by speaking out publicly in support of their work, providing funding, raising specific instances of abuse or detention with Governments; and working to promote a more conducive atmosphere for their activities.

Burma

Naomi Long: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make an assessment of the implications for his policy towards Burma of the recently published brief by the Chin Human Rights Organisation entitled The state of freedom of religion or belief for Chin in Burma, 2013.

Hugo Swire: We are aware of the Chin Human Rights Organisation and their report on freedom of religion and belief in Chin State. We are currently implementing some of the recommendations that the report makes to the international community, including regularly raising the importance of Freedom of Religion and Belief in discussions with the Burmese Government.
	During my visit to Burma in January, I raised the full range of our human rights concerns with senior members of the Burmese Government and called for religious tolerance and interfaith dialogue in a speech in Rangoon. Freedom of Religion and Belief was also discussed during the first EU/Burma Human Rights Dialogue in May 2014.
	Our ambassador and embassy officials meet regularly with representatives of all faith communities, both in Rangoon and in the wider country, including in Chin State. The UK has provided funding for interfaith dialogue to help build trust between communities—for example a project promoting peace building among youths from different faith groups.

Burma

Fiona Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment he has made of the potential consequences of the proposed religious conversion bill in Burma and the situation for religious minorities in that country.

Hugo Swire: We have voiced our strong concerns over proposed legislation on inter-faith marriage and religious conversion to members of the Burmese Government and parliamentarians. If enacted, these laws would harm religious tolerance and respect for diversity in Burma, and contravene international standards and treaties such as the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), to which Burma is a signatory. During my visit to Burma in January, I delivered a speech which called for greater religious tolerance and interfaith dialogue, and we continue to make clear that respect for freedom of religion and belief must be guaranteed.

China

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions he has had with his Chinese counterparts on animal welfare issues in China.

Hugo Swire: We have not made recent specific representations on animal welfare issues in China. However the UK is a leading supporter of co-ordinated international efforts to protect animal welfare. We hosted a high level conference on the illegal wildlife trade in London in February 2014, and over 40 countries, including China, participated. Chinese authorities have since passed a new law making the consumption of rare wild animals an offence, punishable by 10 years in prison.

Democratic Republic of Congo

Mark Pritchard: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions he has held with President Kabila of the Democratic Republic of Congo on a peaceful transition to a new presidency in 2016.

Mark Simmonds: Parliamentary and presidential elections in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) represent an important opportunity for DRC to demonstrate democratic progress; this includes the transition to a new presidency in 2016. To that end, we continue to encourage the Government of DRC to ensure that a full electoral timetable is produced; that the Congolese constitution is respected; and the presidential elections are held by the end of 2016. This was most recently discussed in Kinshasa by FCO officials in early June. We will continue to work closely with the DRC Government, the UN and our international partners as the electoral timetable develops.

Energy

Tom Greatrex: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what estimate he has made of his Department's consumption in kWh of (a) gas and (b) electricity in each month since June 2010; and what the cost of such consumption has been in each such month.

David Lidington: The following table shows the monthly consumption and the annual cost of electricity and gas for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office’s UK estate. To provide a breakdown of monthly utility costs from June 2010 would incur a disproportionate cost.
	
		
			 Electricity and gas consumption by KW per month—Foreign and Commonwealth Office UK Estate, July 2010 to June 2014 
			  Electricity Gas 
			 2010   
			 July 2,274,414 26,264 
			 August 2,239,777 27,272 
			 September 2,146,889 55,821 
			 October 2,248,164 43,425 
			 November 2,193,869 80,993 
			 December 2,303,529 115,504 
			    
			 2011   
			 January 2,334,956 99,379 
			 February 2,118,927 83,974 
			 March 2,368,763 136,207 
			 April 2,056,035 99,346 
			 May 2,166,479 60,836 
			 June 2,077,487 28,003 
		
	
	
		
			 July 2,099,055 44,175 
			 August 2,097,060 39,228 
			 September 2,075,267 25,309 
			 October 2,177,408 6,705 
			 November 2,190,995 22,410 
			 December 2,204,043 34,374 
			    
			 2012   
			 January 2,259,701 193,230 
			 February 2,186,008 80,085 
			 March 2,226,201 159,388 
			 April 2,055,466 92,296 
			 May 2,047,530 118,335 
			 June 2,163,504 75,539 
			 July 2,273,546 47,921 
			 August 2,157,903 31,924 
			 September 2,089,309 9,567 
			 October 2,235,567 16,521 
			 November 2,178,773 69,986 
			 December 2,150,737 97,894 
			    
			 2013   
			 January 2,219,919 141,837 
			 February 2,173,167 142,719 
			 March 2,167,010 123,445 
			 April 2,053,247 185,216 
			 May 2,072,429 105,223 
			 June 1,991,685 90,964 
			 July 2,139,866 53,407 
			 August 2,096,558 35,526 
			 September 2,052,642 6,603 
			 October 2,182,115 14,621 
			 November 2,129,516 92,749 
			 December 2,155,447 50,016 
			    
			 2014   
			 January 2,224,115 164,149 
			 February 1,946,735 46,998 
			 March 2,122,869 97,343 
			 April 2,021,445 57,865 
			 May 2,049,478 86,495 
			 June 1,347,328 86,244

European Union

William Cash: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs on the initiative of which member states the wording of the draft Conclusions of the EU Presidency at the European Council meeting on 26-27 June 2014 relating to the role of national parliaments in the EU was reduced in scope and significance in the final version.

David Lidington: We welcome the reference in the June European Council Conclusions to the closer involvement of national parliaments in EU decision-making. We will continue to push for a strong voice for national parliaments within the EU, but Her Majesty’s Government are not able to disclose the detail of negotiations.

Palestinians

Nadhim Zahawi: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment his Department has made of the adherence of Hamas to the Quartet Principles. [R]

Hugh Robertson: The UK does not talk to Hamas. It remains the Government’s position that Hamas must adhere to the Quartet Principles, by renouncing violence, recognising Israel, and accepting previously signed agreements. To date, 2 July 2014, they have not.

South Pacific

Gavin Shuker: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment he has made of (a) the value of the Senior Pacific Police Leadership Program; and (b) the effect of the level of investment in the program by his Department.

Hugo Swire: The aim of the Senior Pacific Police Leadership Programme (SPPL), which ran in 2013, was to improve leadership skills, promote ethical policing practices and reinforce the rights of women in the Pacific. The programme was run in partnership with Australia and New Zealand and was well received by the students and their respective Governments.
	21 senior police officers from 15 Pacific island countries took part--and it was designed to complement larger scale assistance being provided by our allies in the region.
	The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) spent £23,000 on the SPPL programme. We believe that the SPPL programme has had a positive impact, and helped improve police leadership in the countries which participated. Feedback from our partners in those countries, and from our New Zealand partners who hosted the programme, suggests that the SPPL programme provided a quality of training that would not otherwise be available in the region.

ENERGY AND CLIMATE CHANGE

Carbon Emissions

Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change with reference to the answer for 4 March 2014, Official Report, column 765W, on carbon emissions, to which other technologies that answer refers to; and whether this would still be the case if the carbon footprint of backup technologies was factored in.

Gregory Barker: Onshore wind power has a very small carbon footprint range relative to other energy generation technologies, including coal and gas-fired generation, which, in 2012, emitted, on average, 895 g/kWh and 415 g/kWh respectively (not allowing for emissions incurred during the manufacture, construction and decommissioning phases)1.
	The Department does not estimate the gas turbine energy contribution (and therefore related CO2 emissions) associated with the reserve generation needed to manage wind variability specifically, due to complex inter-dependencies of the power system operational parameters. However, the need for reserve generation to manage intermittent supply and demand of electricity does not change the fact that any electricity generated by onshore wind-which in the first quarter of 2014 accounted for around 7% of all electricity generated in the UK-has a carbon footprint of just 8 and 20g CO2eq/kWh. Reserve generation displaces the output of existing generating stations to maintain the balance of supply and demand, so there is no net increase of power on the system at any one time; therefore the only additional emissions from reserve associated with wind power is through the inefficiency of running separate generating stations at part load rather than fewer stations at full-load, which is relatively insignificant compared to the carbon savings made.
	1 Coal and Gas emissions factors from table DUKES 5C, available at:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/electricity-chapter-5-digest-of-united-kingdom-energy-statistics-dukes

Climate Change: Conferences

Anas Sarwar: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change if he will take steps to ensure the Government are represented at the highest level at the upcoming UN Conference on Climate Change in Lima.

Gregory Barker: Details on the UK delegation to the 20th United Nations Annual Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Conference of Parties (COP) in Lima are yet to be confirmed, but the delegation will include Ministers and senior officials from the Government. The full list of participants in the conference will be published on the UNFCCC website when the COP has concluded, and this will include details of the UK delegation.

Electricity Generation

Tom Greatrex: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what assumptions underly the change set out in his Department's Impact Assessment for the Capacity Mechanism of June 2014 on the forecast capacity price moves from £18/mWh in 2021 to £36.mWh in 2022.

Michael Fallon: The June 2014 Capacity Market Impact Assessment estimates the clearing price will be £18/kW for 2021 and £36/kW for 2022. Please note that the estimated clearing prices are sensitive to small changes in assumptions.
	With the modelling, we have not undertaken work to isolate the impact of a change in a specific assumption to a change in clearing prices. However, we have undertaken sensitivity analysis in the Impact Assessment, as seen on page 28. Annex G of the June 2014 Capacity Market Impact Assessment outlines the modelling approach and assumptions. Please see the following link:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/324430/Final_Capacity_Market_ Impact_Assessment.pdf

Electricity Generation

Tom Greatrex: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change with reference to the Impact Assessment for the Capacity Market, IA No: DECC0151, what the reasons are for the change between October 2013 and June 2014 in his Department’s appraisal of the carbon cost of the capacity market.

Michael Fallon: The June 2014 Capacity Market Impact Assessment included updated assumptions (such as the latest peak demand assumptions). In addition a number of modelling changes were made between the October 2013 Capacity Market Impact Assessment and the June 2014 Capacity Market Impact Assessment. The reason for these changes was to better estimate the impact of the Capacity Market. These modelling changes are outlined in the June 2014 Capacity Market Impact Assessment. Please find the following link:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/324430/Final_Capacity_Market_Impact_Assessment.pdf

Electricity Generation

Tom Greatrex: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what assessment he has made of the Net Present Value to 2030 of the Capacity Market in a scenario in which the Value of Loss of Load is taken at £10,000/MWh.

Michael Fallon: The estimated net present value to 2030 of the Capacity Market in a scenario in which the Value of Lost Load is £10,000/MWh is £31 million.

Energy

Caroline Flint: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change 
	(1)  which local authorities have received funding under the Core Cities Energy Efficiency programme;
	(2)  which local authorities have received funding under the pioneer places programme.

Gregory Barker: Full details are published at:
	www.gov.uk/government/publications/green-deal-energy-company-obligation-eco-and-insulation-levels-in-great-britain-quarterly-report-to-march-2014

Energy

Caroline Flint: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how much funding has been allocated under the core cities energy efficiency programme.

Gregory Barker: £10.8 million was allocated to the core cities programme which concluded in June 2013.

Energy: Prices

Anas Sarwar: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what recent discussions he has had with energy companies on retail and wholesale energy prices.

Michael Fallon: DECC Ministers and officials regularly have discussions with energy companies about a range of market issues.
	In a competitive market, pricing decisions are a commercial matter for companies.
	Consumers can put pressure on companies to reduce prices by switching to the best deal for them.

Green Deal Scheme

Caroline Flint: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change which local authorities have received funding under the Green Deal Communities programme.

Gregory Barker: Full details are at:
	www.gov.uk/government/news/support-for-local-authorities-to-keep-homes-warm-and-lower-energy-bills?jhbjkb

Green Deal Scheme

Caroline Flint: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how much funding has been allocated under the Green Deal Communities programme to date.

Gregory Barker: The Green Deal Communities fund of £88.3 million has been fully allocated to 24 successful local authorities.
	Full details are at:
	www.gov.uk/government/news/support-for-local-authorities-to-keep-homes-warm-and-lower-energy-bills?jhbjkb

Green Deal Scheme

Caroline Flint: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how much funding his Department has allocated under the pioneer places programme.

Gregory Barker: Pioneer Places completed in June 2013. £10 million was allocated to local authorities under the Pioneer Places programme. Details with outcomes are at:
	www.gov.uk/government/publications/green-deal-energy-company-obligation-eco-and-insulation-levels-in-great-britain-quarterly-report-to-march-2014

Natural Gas: Prices

David Crausby: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what steps he is taking to ensure that the recent reductions in wholesale gas prices available to energy companies are benefiting consumers.

Michael Fallon: In a competitive market, pricing decisions are a commercial matter for companies.
	Consumers can put pressure on companies to reduce prices by switching to the best deal for them-Ofgem’s Retail Market Reforms to deliver a simpler, clear market combined with Government’s push to significantly reduce switching times and require suppliers to share consumer data with trusted third parties, should make this easier to do.
	The Government supported Ofgem’s recent letter to the largest suppliers, challenging them to explain to consumers the impact of falling wholesale prices on their retail prices. Evidence that large suppliers raise prices more quickly when costs increase than they reduce prices when costs fall was one of the issues underpinning Ofgem’s recent referral of the energy markets to the Competition and Markets Authority.

Private Rented Housing: Energy

Caroline Flint: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what estimate his Department has made of the number of landlords who have upgraded the energy efficiency of their properties to EPC rating E or higher in line with the Energy Act 2011 since the implementation of that Act.

Gregory Barker: No estimate has been made of the number of landlords acting as a direct result of the provisions within the Energy Act 2011.

Renewable Energy

Caroline Flint: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change pursuant to the answer of 19 June 2014, Official Report, column 1249, on low-carbon electricity projects, 
	(1)  if he will place in the Library a copy of the Bloomberg analysis;
	(2)  what the evidential basis is for the statement of the Minister of State for Energy and Climate Change that investment in low-carbon electricity projects has doubled during the current Parliament;

Gregory Barker: In the answer I gave to the right hon. Member on 12 May 2014, Official Report, columns 344-45W, I confirmed that a copy of the Bloomberg New Energy Finance analysis of new investment in UK renewable electricity was placed in the Libraries of both Houses. This analysis shows that average annual investment in renewables has more than doubled in this Parliament, compared with the previous one. When rounded, the figures also show a 20% increase in renewable electricity between 2012 and 2013.

Renewable Energy

Caroline Flint: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change pursuant to the answer of 19 June 2014, Official Report, column 1258, on energy security, what the evidential basis is for his statement that the rate of investment in renewables is increasing.

Michael Fallon: In the answer I gave to the right hon. Member on 12 May 2014, Official Report, column 344-5W, I confirmed that a copy of the Bloomberg New Energy Finance analysis of new investment in UK renewable electricity was placed in the Libraries of both Houses. This shows that the investment rate is going up, with average annual investment in renewables more than doubling in this Parliament, compared with the previous one.

Renewable Energy: Feed-in Tariffs

Chris Heaton-Harris: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what assessment and evaluation of the effectiveness of the feed-in tariff scheme have been completed and published during the period of its implementation.

Gregory Barker: DECC conducted a Comprehensive Review of the FITs scheme in 2011-12, which assessed the effectiveness of the scheme and introduced measures to improve value for money and reduce tariffs in light of falling costs. The relevant documents are available on the gov.uk website:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/policies/increasing-the-use-of-low-carbon-technologies/supporting-pages/feed-in-tariffs-scheme
	Additionally, Ofgem’s Annual Reports for the first three years of the Feed-in Tariffs scheme can be found on the Ofgem FIT website:
	https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/environmental-programmes/feed-tariff-fit-scheme
	These provide evidence for the extent to which FITs has encouraged small-scale, low-carbon electricity generation.
	We are planning a further review of FITs in 2015.

Solar Power

Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what his policy is on future public subsidies to onshore solar energy projects; and if he will make a statement.

Gregory Barker: The UK has seen a remarkable transformation in solar PV deployment under the coalition Government; we now have over 3GW of installed capacity. The measures that we set out in our Solar Strategy will ensure that solar PV continues to be a vital part of the UK’s renewable energy mix for many years to come.
	Alongside those measures, we are consulting on proposals to change the small-scale feed-in tariff scheme to enable more communities to benefit from ownership of renewable electricity generation, as well as proposals to encourage more deployment of solar PV on buildings.
	We are also consulting on changes to the renewables obligation in relation to support for large-scale solar projects, and are working closely with industry to ensure that transition to the new contracts for difference mechanism supports the on-going development of the solar sector in the UK.

Universal Credit

Chris Bryant: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change if he will estimate the cost to the public purse of extending entitlement to WaterSure to all claimants of universal credit once universal credit has been fully rolled out.

Dan Rogerson: I have been asked to reply 
	on behalf of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.
	The WaterSure tariff lowers the bills of low-income, metered customers that have unavoidably high water use. WaterSure is provided by all water companies in England to qualifying customers and caps their water bills at the average for their region. WaterSure customers will continue to benefit from the scheme when their qualifying benefit or tax credit is replaced by universal credit. The WaterSure tariff is funded through cross subsidy between water customers; there is no cost to the public purse.

BUSINESS, INNOVATION AND SKILLS

Conditions of Employment

Ian Murray: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what assessment he has made of the potential effect of the Flexible Working Regulations 2014 on workers with zero hours contracts.

Jo Swinson: Under the new regulations, which were brought into force on the 30 June, all employees with 26 continuous weeks of service have the right to request flexible working from their employer. Individuals on zero hours contracts, and who are employees, can request a change in their contracts which could also include a request to move to a fixed hours contract.
	Individuals on zero hours contracts may be employees or workers, depending on the contract agreed between them and their employer. The Government do not keep records on the proportion of individual zero hours contracts workers on either employee or worker contracts.
	While individuals on zero hour contracts, and who are not employees, do not have a statutory right to request flexible working, they can make an informal request to their employer to vary their hours or their working pattern. An employer can also choose to offer contractual rights that are more generous than those provided for in statute.

Copyright: Arts

Mike Weatherley: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what assessment his Department has made of the legal proceedings recently instituted in other EU member states against UK-registered companies involved in the copying of design articles derived from artistic work.

David Willetts: The UK Government do not comment on ongoing legal proceedings. Any company, regardless of where it is registered, should act in accordance with the laws of the relevant EU member state.

Disabled Students' Allowances

Andrew George: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what discussions he has had on proposed changes to the disabled students' allowance.

David Willetts: The Interdepartmental Ministerial Group on Disability, which I attend, has discussed the proposed changes to the disabled students allowance (DSA). The changes should improve the effectiveness of the scheme, and ensure that there is a proper balance between the responsibility of Higher Education Institutions to make reasonable adjustments and a central scheme, the DSA, that provides funding direct to students. The purpose of these allowances is not fundamentally changing.

Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013

Mike Weatherley: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills if he will take steps to implement section 74 of the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013 before the end of the current parliamentary session; and if he will make a statement.

David Willetts: The Government intend to implement section 74 of the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013, with appropriate transitional provisions, before the end of the current parliamentary session, following public consultation on those transitional provisions.

Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013

Mike Weatherley: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what assessment his Department has made of the complaints received by the European Consumer Centres' Network against UK-registered companies involved in the copying of artistic design articles as a result of the time taken to implement section 74 of the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013.

David Willetts: The European Consumer Centre Network is primarily involved in cross-border consumer disputes with traders. The Government do not intervene in such complaints. Nor has it received any information from the Network in relation to complaints against UK-registered companies involved in the copying of artistic design articles. Accordingly, the Government have made no assessment of such complaints.

Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013

Mike Weatherley: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what his Department's planned timeline is for the implementation of section 74 of the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013; and if he will make a statement.

David Willetts: The Government plan to publish its Impact Assessment and consultation document on the timing of the repeal of section 52 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 (i.e. the implementation of section 74 of the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013 (“ERRA”)) later this year.
	Once the consultation process has concluded, the Government intend to introduce the secondary legislation to implement section 74 of the ERRA before the end of this Parliament.

Higher Education: Yorkshire and the Humber

Andrew Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how many young people from (a) Harrogate and Knaresborough constituency, (b) North Yorkshire and (c) Yorkshire and the Humber (i) applied for and (ii) started a degree course in each year since 2009-10.

David Willetts: The latest available information on applicants is shown in Table 1. Comparable figures for North Yorkshire are not held centrally.
	
		
			 Table 1: UCAS applicants to full-time undergraduate courses from Harrogate and Knaresborough constituency, and Yorkshire and the Humber 
			  Year of entry: 
			 Area of domicile 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 
			 Harrogate and Knaresborough      
			 Aged under 211 810 820 835 775 810 
			 21 and over1 225 185 200 170 210 
			 All ages 1,035 1,005 1,035 945 1,020 
			       
			 Yorkshire and the Humber      
			 All ages 42,475 44,850 45,070 42,110 43,050 
			 1 This analysis uses country specific age definitions that align with the cut off points for school and college cohorts within the different administrations of the UK. For England, ages are defined on 31 August. Defining ages in this way matches the assignment of children to school cohorts. Note: Numbers have been rounded to the nearest 5. Source: UCAS 
		
	
	The Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) collects and publishes data on students at UK higher education institutions (HEIs). The number of young (under 21) entrants to UK HEIs who were domiciled in Harrogate and Knaresborough constituency, North Yorkshire, and the Yorkshire and the Humber region prior to starting their course is shown in Table 2. HESA figures for 2013/14 will be available in January 2015. There are differences in the coverage of UCAS and HESA: the UCAS figures cover applicants to higher education institutions (HEIs), further education colleges (FECs), and alternative providers (APs) of HE in the UK; the HESA figures cover HEIs only, plus the university of Buckinghamshire. Not all applicants apply via UCAS: some apply directly to institutions. In addition, some applicants who obtain a place via UCAS opt to defer entry until the following year.
	
		
			 Table 2: Young1 entrants2 domiciled3 in Harrogate and Knaresborough constituency 4, North Yorkshire local authority and Yorkshire and Humber Government office region UK higher education institutions. Academic years 2009/10 to 2012/13 
			 Domicile 2009/10 2010/11 2011/12 2012/13 
			 Harrogate and Knaresborough 580 655 700 600 
			 North Yorkshire 3,670 3,605 3,845 3,015 
			 Yorkshire and Humber 24,880 24,705 26,340 22,350 
			 1 Young refers to students aged under 21 on 31 August in the reporting year. 2 Entrants refers to students in their first year of study. 3 Domicile refers to a students’ home or permanent address prior to starting their course. 4 Parliamentary constituency boundaries were revised from the 6 May 2010 UK general election. Source: HESA Student Record

Manufacturing Industries: Northern Ireland

Ivan Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how many delegates from manufacturers based in Northern Ireland were invited to the BIS Manufacturing Summit 2014 held on 19 June 2014.

Michael Fallon: Information on the regional location of Manufacturing Summit delegates was not requested as part of the registration process. However, from the limited data available we have identified one Northern Ireland-based manufacturing company which was invited to the Manufacturing Summit. This particular company decided not to send a representative.
	For future summits we will be looking at ways to create a more diverse mix of CEO-level participants from across manufacturing industry. Proactive suggestions from hon. Members would be welcome as part of this process.

New Businesses: Northern Ireland

Ivan Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how many applicants for the Start-Up Loans Scheme have been received from Northern Ireland; and what value of such loans have been provided for new businesses in Northern Ireland since the scheme was launched.

Matthew Hancock: To date there have been 913 applications for Start-Up Loans in Northern Ireland including applications that have been withdrawn, declined or still in progress. Of these applications, 120 loans with a value of £562,110 have been drawn down to date.

Space Technology: Northern Ireland

Ivan Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what work the National Space Agency is doing to support the development of a regional space small and medium-sized enterprise sector in Northern Ireland; and what steps his Department has taken to support space-related events and conferences for decision-makers, the public, industry or academia in Northern Ireland.

David Willetts: The UK Space Agency recognises the strengths and interest of the Northern Ireland space sector. The Agency has recently established a small team to focus on supporting the development of a vibrant regional small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) community across the UK. It is already engaged with the Northern Ireland space office and will work with them to help them to understand the potential value of the space sector to the Northern Ireland economy, both in the traditional upstream and in downstream “space-enabled markets”. Areas of focus for regional engagement include aligning locally provided business support and the potential for further space business incubators. The team are working closely with colleagues in the Satellite Applications Catapult who are also engaging with local enterprise partnerships and the devolved Administrations and have a significant role to play in supporting SMEs in the space sector. As set out in the Northern Ireland Economic Pact, the agency is considering the case for a new satellite propulsion test facility near Belfast. The agency is also in receipt of Northern Ireland’s letter of intent to host the UK Space Conference 2017 and due consideration will be given to holding the conference in Belfast in due course.

JUSTICE

Islam: Marriage

Sharon Hodgson: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what steps he is taking to encourage mosques to register with the General Registry Office to perform civil marriages and partnerships.

Simon Hughes: A small working group of internal and external stakeholders was established by the Ministry of Justice in 2012 to consider the reasons why so few mosques are registered for the purpose of conducting marriages, and explore what more might be done by Government and others to raise awareness of registration and its benefits. The group is also exploring how community-led approaches could raise awareness of marriages which are not recognised by the state and the potential legal consequences.
	The General Register Office is content to work with interested parties to see what might be done in the area of communications and guidance within the existing legal framework. The group is also raising awareness of religious marriages not recognised by the state and the potential legal consequences.

Islam: Marriage

Sharon Hodgson: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what steps he has taken to raise awareness among Muslim couples that Islamic marriages without a legal component are not recognised in England and Wales.

Simon Hughes: A small working group of internal and external stakeholders was established by the MOJ in 2012 to consider why so few mosques are registered for the purpose of conducting marriages. The working group has been exploring what more could be done in communications and guidance within the existing legal framework. The group is also examining how community led approaches could raise awareness of religious marriages which are not recognised by the state and the potential legal consequences.

Life Imprisonment

Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many life sentence prisoners were moved into open prisons in each month between January 2010 and December 2013.

Jeremy Wright: Data held centrally on prisoners transferred to open prisons do not distinguish between different types of indeterminate sentenced prisoner. Indeterminate sentences include those serving mandatory, discretionary and automatic life sentences and those serving Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP) sentences.
	Identifying which prisoners were serving life sentences would require a manual trawl of records, which would incur disproportionate cost.

Open Prisons

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many prisoners in open prisons were returned to closed prisons in each of the last three years by (a) reason for their return and (b) type of offence originally committed.

Jeremy Wright: We do not centrally hold data on the individual reasons for determinate sentence prisoner transfers, including transfers following re-categorisation and when prisoners have been returned to closed conditions from open prisons. Where this is available, the information could be obtained only at disproportionate cost as it would involve a manual trawl through the records of every prisoner to identify if they have ever been held in open conditions and subsequently returned to closed conditions.
	However, the information, in part, is centrally available in respect of indeterminate sentence prisoners.
	Table 1 provides the number of indeterminate sentence prisoners who have been returned from open conditions to closed conditions and where the transfer occurred between 1 April 2011 and 31 March 2014, grouped by year and by reason for transfer. The data have been drawn from administrative IT systems which, as with any large scale recording system, are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing.
	We are unable to provide a breakdown of this information by index offence as this information is not held centrally; to obtain it would require a manual trawl through every case and this would incur disproportionate cost.
	
		
			 Reason for return to closed prison 2011-12 2012-13 2013-14 Grand total 
			 Abscond 117 161 170 448 
			 Antisocial Behaviour 48 96 74 218 
		
	
	
		
			 Breach of Licence Conditions 30 33 56 120 
			 Drink/Drugs 139 171 256 568 
			 FNP - - 3 3 
			 Healthcare issues - - 5 5 
			 New charges/offences - - 2 2 
			 Non compliance - 1 28 29 
			 Other 135 235 298 668 
			 Prisoner request - - 2 2 
			 Psychology concerns/issues - - 6 6 
			 Serious breach of prison rules - 1 21 22 
			 Grand total 469 698 921 2,087 
		
	
	The main purpose of open conditions is to test prisoners in conditions more similar to those that they will face in the community. Time spent in open prisons affords prisoners the opportunity to find work, re-establish family ties, reintegrate into the community and ensure housing needs are met. For many prisoners who have spent a considerable amount of time in custody; these can assist in their successful reintegration in the community and protecting the public.
	We make no apologies for taking a firm approach in returning prisoners to closed conditions wherever we need to do so.
	The number of temporary release failures remains very low; less that one failure in every 1,000 releases and about five in every 100,000 releases involving alleged offending, but we take each and every incident seriously. The Government have already ordered immediate changes to tighten up the system as a matter of urgency. With immediate effect, prisoners will no longer be transferred to open conditions if they have previously absconded from open prisons; or if they have failed to return or reoffended whilst released on temporary licence.

Open Prisons

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice pursuant to the answer of 16 June 2014, Official Report, column 458W, on open prisons, what data his Department holds on the number of (a) prisoners in an open prison who previously breached a licence condition while released on temporary licence and (b) prisoners in open prisons who have previously absconded or escaped from prison on the latest date for which figures are available.

Jeremy Wright: I refer my hon. Friend to the reply I gave on 16 June 2014, Official Report, column 458W, on open prisons.
	My officials are currently working to provide the information requested. I will write to my hon. Friend in due course.

Prison Sentences

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what the average length of sentence was for (a) the total prison population and (b) foreign national prisoners, by type of offence, in 2012.

Jeremy Wright: Sentencing in individual cases is entirely a matter for our independent courts, taking account of all the circumstances of each case. The sentencing legislation and sentencing guidelines apply equally to all offenders.
	Crime continues to fall, but since 2010 those who commit a serious offence are more likely to go to prison and for longer. In 2013, the average custodial sentence length was 15.5 months across all indictable offences, which is the highest in more than a decade.
	The average length of sentence for (a) the total prison population and (b) foreign national prisoners, by type of offence, in 2012 is shown in the table.
	
		
			 Average sentence length in months for foreign national prisoners and all prisoners by offence group, as on 30th June 2012, England and Wales 
			 Offence group Foreign nationals All prisoners 
			 Violence against the person 66.3 52.3 
			 Sexual offences 88.4 86.5 
			 Burglary 27.1 37.5 
			 Robbery 58.8 61.5 
			 Fraud and forgery 28.2 37.9 
			 Theft and handling 15.5 20.2 
			 Motoring 10.2 16.1 
			 Drug offences 73.1 66.9 
			 Other offences 38.6 36.4 
			 Offence not recorded 48.9 51.5 
			 All offences 56.3 53.2 
			 Notes: 1. These figures include determinate sentenced prisoners only, and represent a point-in-time average of sentence lengths on 30 June 2012. 2. The 'all prisoners' figures are inclusive of foreign national prisoners. Data Sources and Quality: These figures have been drawn from administrative IT systems which, as with any large scale recording system, are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing.

Prison Service

Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many agency staff were used at each prison establishment in England and Wales on 9 June 2014 to carry out operational support grade functions.

Jeremy Wright: In responding to this question, we have utilised data provided by our contracted supplier of temporary operational staff.
	Operational support grades cover a variety of roles within the prison including gate, visits, censors and reception, they are also flexibly deployed to provide a range of other support services within operational areas. We look to fill vacancies from within the Department and wider civil service before looking externally. The total number of agency staff in the position of operational support grade as of 9 June 2014 was 842. This figure can fluctuate throughout the year in line with establishment requirements. For a full breakdown of this number by establishment, please see the following table.
	
		
			 Organisation Number of OSGs 
			 HMP Haverigg 1 
			 HM Prison Long Lartin 1 
			 HMP Albany 1 
			 HM YOI Wetherby 1 
			 HMP Downview 1 
			 HMP Durham 1 
			 HMP Maidstone 2 
			 HMP Nottingham 2 
			 HMP Send 2 
			 HM Prison Gartree 2 
			 HM Prison Dartmoor 2 
			 HM Prison Garth 2 
			 HM Prison Nottingham 2 
		
	
	
		
			 HM Prison Swansea 2 
			 HM Prison YOI Thorn Cross 2 
			 HMP Buckley Hall 2 
			 HMP East Sutton Park 2 
			 HMP Manchester 2 
			 HMP Woodhill Milton Keynes 2 
			 HMP YOI Portland 2 
			 Immigration Removal Centre Haslar 2 
			 HMP Buckley Hall 3 
			 HMP Dover 3 
			 HMP Holloway 3 
			 HM Prison Cookham Wood 3 
			 HMP & YOI Foston Hall 3 
			 HMP Exeter 4 
			 HMP Lewes 4 
			 HM YOI Werrington 4 
			 HM Prison Pentonville 4 
			 HM Prison and YOI Low Newton 4 
			 HM Prison Featherstone 4 
			 HM Prison Holme House 4 
			 HM Prison Risley 4 
			 HM Prison Hindley 5 
			 HM Prison Sudbury 5 
			 HMP Swaleside 6 
			 HM Prison Coldingley 6 
			 HM Prison Eastwood Park 6 
			 HM Prison Ford 6 
			 HM Prison Pentonville 6 
			 HMP Bure 6 
			 HMP Hull 6 
			 HMP Huntercombe 6 
			 HMP YOI Onley 6 
			 HM YOI Wetherby 6 
			 HM Prison Ranby 7 
			 HM Prison Hollesley Bay 7 
			 HM Prison Liverpool 7 
			 HMP Erlestoke 8 
			 HMP Guys Marsh 8 
			 HM Prison Lincoln 9 
			 HM Prison Morton Hall 9 
			 HM YOI Aylesbury 9 
			 HM Bullingdon Prison 9 
			 HMP Chelmsford 9 
			 HMP Norwich 10 
			 HM Prison Hewell Grange 10 
			 HM YOI Stoke Heath 10 
			 HMP Grendon & Springhill 10 
			 HMP Leeds 10 
			 HMP Lindholme 10 
			 HMP Moorland 10 
			 HMP Stafford 10 
			 HM YOI Glen Parva 10 
			 HM Prison Leicester 11 
			 HM Prison Wymott 11 
			 HMP & YOI Isis 11 
			 HMP Bedford 11 
			 HMP Highdown 11 
			 HMP Elmley 12 
			 HM Prison and YOI New Hall 12 
			 HMP Wealstun 12 
			 HM YOI Swinfen Hall 12 
			 HM Prison Wormwood Scrubs 13 
			 HM YOI Brinsford 13 
			 HMP Preston 13 
		
	
	
		
			 HMP Wandsworth 14 
			 HM Prison Belmarsh 14 
			 HMP Cardiff 14 
			 HMP Standford Hill 15 
			 HMP Highpoint South 17 
			 HM Prison Garth 17 
			 HM YOI Warren Hill 17 
			 HMP IOW 18 
			 HMP Humber 19 
			 HMP Feltham 20 
			 HMP Rochester 21 
			 HMP The Verne 21 
			 HM Prison Leyhill 22 
			 HMP Bristol 22 
			 HMP Winchester 23 
			 HM Prison Littlehey 24 
			 HMP Wayland 25 
			 HM Prison Stocken 26 
			 HMP The Mount 26 
			 Total 842

Prisoners’ Release

Andy Sawford: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many indeterminate sentence prisoners have been considered and (a) approved and (b) rejected for release on temporary licence; and how many of these had received approval from him for transfer to open conditions.

Jeremy Wright: Data on temporary release applications and the outcomes of such applications are not collected centrally and could not be provided except at disproportionate cost. Data on releases on temporary licence are published at the following links:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/offender-management-statistics-quarterly-october-december-2013-and-annual
	and
	https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/statistical-notice-releases-on-temporary-licence-2012

Prisoners: Per Capita Costs

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice 
	(1)  what the average cost per (a) prison place and (b) prisoner in each category of prison was in the latest period for which figures are available;
	(2)  what the average cost was of each (a) prison place and (b) prisoner in the case of (i) male and (ii) female prisoners in the latest period for which figures are available;
	(3)  what the average cost was of each (a) prison place and (b) prisoner in each prison in England and Wales in the latest period for which figures are available.

Jeremy Wright: The Department routinely publishes average costs per prisoner and prison place, based on actual net resource expenditure for each private and public sector prison and in summary form for the whole of the prison estate in England and Wales on an annual basis after the end of each financial year. This includes a breakdown of these costs by prison category and individual prison within each category, and separately by prisoner gender.
	The most recently published figures are for financial year 2012-13 which give an average annual Overall cost per place of £36,808 and average annual Overall cost per prisoner of £34,766. An average annual cost per male prisoner of £34,306 and £44,746 per female prisoner, based on Overall resource costs, is also published.
	The information for financial year 2012-13 is available in the Cost per Place and Prisoner and Supplementary Information files on the Department’s website at:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/prison-and-probation-trusts-performance-statistics-201213
	Figures for 2013-14 will be published alongside the Management Information Addendums to the NOMS Annual Report and Accounts in October 2014.
	Continuing to reduce prison unit costs is one of the key targets for the Department. Between 2009-10 and 2012-13 prison unit costs (based on Overall prison costs) have reduced in real terms by 16% per place and 13% per prisoner.

Probation Trusts: Staff

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many safety officers are employed by probation trusts to help (a) female and (b) male victims of domestic violence.

Jeremy Wright: The information requested is not available as it was not collected centrally from the probation trusts. Probation trusts ceased to provide probation services from midnight on 31 May 2014.
	National Probation Service (NPS) and Community Rehabilitation Companies (CRCs) commenced operations on 1 June 2014.
	Information on staffing levels at Probation Trust level was published in the Quarterly Probation Service Workforce Information reports. The link to the reports on gov.uk is provided as follows:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/probation-service-workforce-quarterly-reports

Recovery of Costs

John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice who is responsible for paying defendant costs orders; and which organisation receives payment if costs are awarded for a successful prosecution of a breach.

Shailesh Vara: Defendant Costs Orders are awarded to a defendant when a prosecution is unsuccessful and the defendant is acquitted. The expenditure is called ‘Central Funds’ and are payable at legal aid rates. Central funds fall under the financial responsibility of the Legal Aid Agency but are operationally administered by HM Courts and Tribunals Service.
	If costs are awarded in a successful prosecution of a breach of a Defendant Costs Order, then whoever the prosecutor is will be entitled to receive the costs.

Secure Colleges

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice 
	(1)  whether his policy of an early bedtime for young offenders will apply in secure colleges;
	(2)  whether the time set for an early bedtime for offenders in the youth estate will be the same for all age groups.

Jeremy Wright: We are committed to reforming the youth secure estate. That includes improving the existing regime, within existing establishments, alongside our plans for secure colleges. Introducing a latest bedtime of 10.30 pm in public young offenders institutions is a sensible measure to ensure young people have a routine that will enable them to engage effectively in the regime. In due course we will be discussing with potential operators of secure colleges their proposals for structuring regimes that will maximise engagement.
	Secure training centres and secure children’s homes have bedtimes of around 9 pm to 10 pm depending on the age and behaviour of the young person in question, and whether or not it is a school day.

WORK AND PENSIONS

Children: Maintenance

Stephen Lloyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what average amount of child maintenance arrears is owed to parents with care.

Steve Webb: As at March 2014, the average amount of child maintenance arrears owed to parents with care is £2,1461.
	1 Arrears amounts are calculated on cases with a positive outstanding arrears value, against the 1993 and 2003 statutory maintenance schemes only, including cases managed off system.
	The average amount of arrears owed to parents with care is calculated using the proportion of total arrears owed to parents with care and the proportion of cases where arrears are owed to parents with care, on the CSCS and CS2 computer systems only.

Children: Maintenance

Stephen Lloyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many child support agency arrears cases are cases where there is no ongoing liability.

Steve Webb: At March 2014 there were 532,500 Child Support Agency cases which had arrears with no ongoing liability.
	Note:
	This includes cases administered on the 1993 and 2003 schemes only.

Children: Maintenance

Stephen Lloyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what steps the Child Support Agency has in place to review decisions taken to temporarily suspend action to recover child maintenance arrears and to establish whether the circumstances which led to the temporary suspension of recovery action have changed.

Steve Webb: Child Support Agency cases with suspended debt will be investigated if the Agency is made aware of any changes of circumstance that would warrant the suspended debt being collected.
	Under the new Child Maintenance Service all cases will be subject to an annual review. If the paying parent is working, the case will be reassessed and, if appropriate, any suspended debt reinstated.

Children: Maintenance

Kate Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions pursuant to the answer of 24 June 2014, Official Report, columns 171-2W, on children: maintenance, how much of the amount is written off in child maintenance arrears since November 2012; how much is attributable to (a) a request from the parent with care to write off the arrears, (b) the death of a non-resident parent, (c) the death of a parent with care, (d) an interim maintenance assessment between 1993 and 1995 and (e) a debt where the non-resident parent had been told that no further action would ever be taken.

Steve Webb: The amounts written off since November 2012 in the circumstances requested are as follows:
	
		
			 £ 
			 Reason Year to March 2013 Year to March 2014 
			 Parent with care request 365,269 9,922,726 
			 Non-resident parent death 683,378 4,617,325 
			 Parent with care death 8,121 24,240 
			 Interim maintenance assessments 1993 to 1995 35,796 126,340 
			 NRP advised debt will not be pursued 11,648 355,956 
			 Total 1,104,212 15,046,587 
			 Note: The total does not equal that quoted in response to PQ/14/201287 because there are amounts recorded under categories which are not included in this response.

Children: Maintenance

Stephen Lloyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions with reference the answer of 27 June 2012, Official Report, column 296, on children: maintenance, what proportion of Child Support Agency arrears cases include arrears that have been suspended; and what steps have since been taken to establish the proportion of cases where arrears have been (a) temporarily and (b) permanently suspended.

Steve Webb: As of March 2014 approximately 48% of Child Support Agency cases with arrears contained an amount of suspended arrears.
	Analysis of a sample of the caseload at November 2013 identified that approximately 14% of suspended arrears on the CS2 computer system were permanently suspended, leaving 86% temporarily suspended.
	It is not possible to produce the proportion of cases temporarily or permanently suspended on the CSCS computer system because the information is not readily available and has not previously been published as official statistics. We will consider whether it is feasible to produce the statistics requested within the disproportionate cost limit, and if so, will issue them in an official statistics release in accordance with the Code of Practice for Official Statistics.
	Notes:
	Management information on suspended debt is not available for off system cases, therefore the proportion of cases with arrears that contain suspended arrears has been calculated using CS2 and CSCS cases only.

Food Banks

Eilidh Whiteford: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions 
	(1)  with reference to the statement of the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Scotland, giving evidence to the Scottish Parliament's Welfare Reform Committee on 26 June 2014, that 'I want an analysis of the use of foodbanks that everybody can subscribe to', whether his Department (a) is producing, (b) has commissioned or (c) plans to commission any new research into the use of foodbanks;
	(2)  what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the statement by the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Scotland, giving evidence to the Scottish Parliament's Welfare Reform Committee on 26 June 2014, that 'there isn't any doubt that there are some people who've gone to foodbanks because they have been subject, for example, to sanctions or delays in receiving benefits'.

Esther McVey: The evidence the Under-Secretary of State for Scotland provided to the Scottish Parliament’s Welfare Reform Committee on the 26 June 2014 highlighted the underlying complexity to the use of foodbanks.
	The Government have already commissioned a report on food security by Warwick university, which was published in February 2014. The Government have no immediate plans to produce or commission further research, but will keep this under review.
	Benefit clearance times are steadily improving with 92% of benefits being processed on time (within 16 days) nationally which is 6 percentage points higher than in 2009-10.
	We have in place a robust system of safeguards that seek to ensure sanctions are only applied to those claimants who wilfully fail to meet their requirements. It remains the case that the vast majority of claimants do comply and are not sanctioned—each month only around 5% of JSA claimants are sanctioned and fewer than 1% of ESA claimants. Reduced payments are made where necessary to prevent hardship.

Independent Living Fund

Anas Sarwar: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what guidance his Department plans to give the devolved Administrations and local authorities before 2015 on meeting the care and support needs of people currently using the independent living fund.

Michael Penning: My Department is committed to working closely with the ILF and other Government Departments to support the work required to enable an effective transfer for ILF users by 30 June 2015.
	The ILF has undertaken a dedicated programme of engagement with local authorities and the devolved Administrations; and continues to engage directly with all of those authorities who will be involved in the transfer of user care and support in 2015. This includes a commitment to the codes of practice agreed between the ILF and English local authorities, and between the ILF and the devolved Administrations.
	Specific proposals for distributing the funding transferred to them in respect of former users of the independent living fund living in Scotland and Wales are a matter for the Scottish and Welsh Governments.

Refineries

John Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions 
	(1)  what steps his Department has taken to ensure that former oil refineries being converted to bulk storage and distribution terminals meet post-Buncefield health and safety requirements;
	(2)  what deadline has been set by his Department for former oil refineries being converted to bulk storage and distribution terminals to make the necessary upgrades to meet post-Buncefield standards; and how rigorously such standards are being enforced by the Environment Agency.

Michael Penning: The COMAH Competent Authority (CA), comprising HSE and the environment agencies, is responsible for ensuring that oil refineries and fuel storage and distribution terminals meet new safety and environmental standards introduced in 2009 following the Buncefield fire and explosion. The standards were developed jointly by industry and the CA and published by the Process Safety Leadership Group (PSLG).
	Refineries were required to produce risk-based action plans to implement the PSLG safety standards at their existing fuel storage facilities. HSE led the assessment of these plans during 2011 and has been inspecting sites to ensure the planned improvements are made. The timings of upgrades to containment standards at refineries’ existing fuel storage facilities is based on risk and will vary for each site. Agreed improvements are embedded in environment inspection plans for each site and followed up to ensure measures are implemented on time.
	The CA is working with refineries undergoing conversion to fuel storage and distribution terminals to ensure the PSLG standards are applied in full to their new facilities.

Scotland

Eilidh Whiteford: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions which official welfare-related engagements (a) he and (b) other Ministers in his Department have attended in Scotland since May 2010.

Esther McVey: All visits to Scotland by this Department’s Ministers are welfare related engagements. The following gives details of those visits.
	Secretary of State
	The Rt. Hon. Iain Duncan Smith
	September 2010—delivered a speech and attended meetings in Edinburgh
	February 2011—attended a meeting in Glasgow and conducted site visits in Motherwell
	April 2011—conducted site visits in Edinburgh
	May 2011—delivered a speech and conducted a site visit in Irvine
	September 2011—delivered a speech in Edinburgh
	September 2011—conducted a site visit in Leith and meetings in Edinburgh
	March 2012—conducted a site visit and attended meetings in Edinburgh
	March 2012—delivered a speech and conducted site visits in Dundee
	September 2012—conducted site visits and delivered a speech in Glasgow
	March 2013 delivered a speech and attended meetings in Edinburgh
	Minister for Employment
	The Rt. Hon. Chris Grayling
	April 2011—conducted a site visit and attended meetings in Edinburgh
	January 2012—conducted site visits in Clydebank and Cumbernauld and attended meetings in Edinburgh
	Mark Hoban MP
	March 2013—conducted a site visit and attended meetings in Glasgow
	Minister for Welfare Reform
	Lord Freud
	November 2010—delivered a speech and attended meetings in Edinburgh
	July 2012—delivered a speech and attended meetings in Edinburgh
	November 2012—attended meetings in Edinburgh
	March 2013—delivered a speech in St Andrews
	June 2013—delivered a speech and attended meetings in Glasgow and Edinburgh
	November 2013—conducted a site visit to Inverness
	Minister for Disabled People
	The Rt. Hon. Maria Miller
	September 2011—attended meetings in Fife
	March 2012—attended meetings in Edinburgh
	The Rt. Hon. Esther McVey
	October 2012—conducted site visits in Edinburgh
	February 2013—conducted site visits in Dundee
	The Rt. Hon. Mike Penning
	March 2014—hosted an event in Glasgow
	Minister for Pensions
	Steve Webb MP
	Sept 2010—attended a conference in Gleneagles
	March 2011—delivered key note speech in Edinburgh; and provider visit
	September 2011—attended a conference in Gleneagles
	April 2012—conducted a site visit in Dundee and attended a meeting in Edinburgh, meeting Deputy First Minister
	September 2012—attended a conference in Gleneagles
	September 2013—attended a conference in Gleneagles
	March 2014—delivered key note speech in Edinburgh; provider visit; roundtable event

Television: Licensing

Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many households with a person aged 75 or over in (a) York Central constituency and (b) York Unitary Authority area were eligible for a free television licence in the last year for which data are available.

Steve Webb: The information requested is not held.

UK Statistical Authority

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what steps he plans to take to reduce the number of rebukes his Department receives from the UK Statistical Authority.

Esther McVey: Since May 2010 the DWP has led the way in openness and transparency of statistical release by publishing over 770 releases and datasets.
	Great care is taken to get things right, and in this time the UK Statistics Authority (UKSA) has only written directly to DWP Ministers on two occasions about issues raised with it about DWP statistics. The Department has responded to these points and taken on board the UKSA suggestions.
	DWP statistical releases are produced and published separately to and independently from other departmental comment or publications.
	Great care is taken by DWP statisticians to ensure the statistical releases are easy to read and understand, and are balanced and impartial.

Unemployment: Young People

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what plans Jobcentre Plus has to work with the organisation Movement to Work.

Esther McVey: Jobcentre Plus has been giving practical support to the employer-led Movement to Work initiative and continues to do so. It offers advice to employers who have Movement to Work opportunities to fill. Coaches in Jobcentres are able to refer young people to these opportunities where appropriate.
	In addition the Department for Work and Pensions has been supporting the initiative centrally. Most recently Movement to Work organised an event in June to encourage more employers to join. As an employer the civil service is contributing 6,000 work experience opportunities to the Movement and my Department is offering 3,000 of them.

Universal Credit

Chris Bryant: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will estimate the cost to the public purse of extending entitlement to cold weather payments to all claimants of universal credit once universal credit has been fully rolled out.

Steve Webb: Under existing universal credit eligibility criteria, it is estimated that cold weather payments will cost an additional £8 million per annum once universal credit has been fully rolled out.
	Were entitlement to cold weather payments extended to all claimants of universal credit once universal credit has been fully rolled out the additional cost would be around £320 million per annum. It is not our intention to provide this level of support to everyone on universal credit. This would not be affordable and would divert resources from areas that most need it.

Universal Credit

Chris Bryant: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will estimate the cost to the public purse of extending entitlement to funeral payments to all claimants of universal credit once universal credit has been fully rolled out.

Steve Webb: The additional cost of extending entitlement to funeral payments to all universal credit claimants who satisfy all the relevant criteria once universal credit is fully rolled out would be around £1.5 million per annum.

Universal Credit

Anas Sarwar: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what recent discussions he has had with representatives from charitable and youth organisations on the effect of the new flat-rate housing cost contribution on unemployed young people.

Steve Webb: None.

Universal Credit

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what recent discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills on the effect of universal credit on the self-employed.

Esther McVey: There have been no recent meetings with Ministers but there have been extensive discussions between DWP officials and officials at the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills while designing the approach to supporting those who are self-employed in universal credit.

EDUCATION

Academies: Land

Nick Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Education 
	(1)  how many (a) leaseholds and (b) freeholds have been transferred to academy trusts from local authorities since 2010;
	(2)  what value of land has been transferred from local authorities into the leasehold or freehold ownership of academy trusts since 2010.

Edward Timpson: I refer the right hon. Member to the reply given on 23 June 2014, Official Report, column 75W, to the hon. Member for Stockton North (Alex Cunningham).

Children: Day Care

Stephen McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for Education 
	(1)  how much local authorities have spent on external contractors employed to deliver childcare services, excluding fostering and adoption in (a) 2014 to date and (b) each of the last three years;
	(2)  whether his Department has contributed funds to assist local authorities in the payment of external contractors to deliver childcare services excluding fostering and adoption;
	(3)  how many local authorities in England use external contractors to assist with the delivery of childcare services excluding fostering and adoption.

Edward Timpson: Through its Children’s Social Care Innovation Programme, the Government is supporting local authorities to take new approaches to maximise the capacity and skills brought to bear in improving services for the most vulnerable children. Part of that work involves giving local authorities greater freedom to test new delivery models and harness external ideas and expertise by allowing them to delegate children’s social care functions to external providers.
	In November 2013 we gave all local authorities the power to operate in this manner. So far five providers have registered with Ofsted as performing these functions on behalf of local authorities.
	Local authorities also make widespread use of contractors in the provision of children’s services such as residential care and foster care.
	The Government do not collect data on local authority spend on external contracts.

Education: Yorkshire and the Humber

Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what proportion of children in state education in (a) York local authority area and (b) Yorkshire and the Humber region achieved (i) Level 2 or above in key stage 1 SATS, (ii) Level 4 or above in key stage 2 English and mathematics tests and (iii) five or more GCSE grades A*-C in 1997-98 and in each year since.

David Laws: Information on the performance of children in York local authority and the Yorkshire and Humber region is published in the key stage 11, key stage 22 and GCSE and equivalent3 statistical first releases for each year. This information is held across a number of spreadsheets which can be downloaded from gov.uk4 and the National Archives5.
	1Note:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/phonics-screening-check-and-national-curriculum-assessments-at-key-stage-1-in-england-2013
	2Note:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-curriculum-assessments-at-key-stage-2-2012-to-2013
	3Note:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/gcse-and-equivalent-results-in-england-2012-to-2013-revised
	4Note:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/publications
	5Note:
	http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/webarchive/

Energy

Tom Greatrex: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what estimate he has made of his Department's consumption in kWh of (a) gas and (b) electricity in each month since June 2010; and what the cost of such consumption has been in each such month.

Elizabeth Truss: The Department for Education has cut its annual energy bill by £1.4 million since 2009-10 through reduced energy consumption, and has reduced its greenhouse gas emissions by 38% in the same period.
	Emission reductions from energy use have largely been achieved through low and no cost energy efficiency measures, estate rationalisation (by using space more efficiently and co-locating with other organisations), and by operating our remaining buildings even more efficiently.
	The Department’s monthly gas and electricity consumption and associated costs since June 2010 are set out in the following table.
	
		
			  Electricity kWh Electricity cost (£) Gas kWh Gas cost (£) 
			 2010     
			 June 1,164,652 85,441 133,998 8,879 
			 July 1,158,378 129,719 64,158 9,054 
			 August 1,019,308 120,186 17,736 9,137 
			 September 1,009,662 25,431 61,799 1,789 
			 October 972,048 81,233 168,543 1— 
			 November 955,120 73,194 341,850 3,150 
			 December 917,993 72,450 1,368,357 1,318 
			      
			 2011     
			 January 924,050 68,914 502,246 8,286 
			 February 892,663 148,902 528,895 5,817 
			 March 923,772 87,202 492,273 32,115 
			 April 1,017,920 83,562 176,334 14,114 
			 May 1,091,733 56,831 157,050 8,133 
			 June 1,149,462 139,208 97,030 11,247 
			 July 1,128,281 93,764 56,856 6,460 
			 August 1,126,637 125,550 69,121 1,501 
			 September 1,117,836 101,759 96,013 749 
			 October 1,124,928 175,773 166,233 6,537 
			 November 1,117,066 120,616 541,299 3,603 
			 December 1,056,743 1— 422,178 15,183 
			      
			 2012     
			 January 1,115,270 231,972 504,487 6,691 
			 February 1,064,718 119,303 547,419 16,000 
			 March 1,145,769 116,169 402,004 55,082 
			 April 1,045,229 145,955 369,636 14,405 
			 May 1,141,570 26,511 253,486 1— 
			 June 1,020,091 102,484 107,956 17,461 
			 July 1,095,095 314,717 52,479 31,834 
			 August 1,111,575 161,023 21,057 10,461 
			 September 1,030,509 246,659 107,429 7,395 
			 October 1,115,679 122,926 402,196 6,622 
			 November 1,077,060 188,350 459,877 42,443 
			 December 1,028,372 7,344 562,851 1— 
			      
			 2013     
			 January 1,121,535 150,753 695,526 42,660 
			 February 996,349 252,524 662,816 40,218 
			 March 1,064,972 194,770 622,653 42,909 
			 April 1,038,319 64,507 480,835 61,685 
			 May 1,025,212 13,813 355,353 4,905 
			 June 986,704 267,484 125,280 37,910 
			 July 1,152,464 129,589 63,823 7,838 
			 August 1,075,626 162,988 52,313 5,566 
			 September 1,026,536 126,590 91,021 22,527 
			 October 1,039,324 265,576 326,262 6,066 
			 November 1,003,941 148,285 336,372 7,520 
			 December 1,024,778 13,976 374,204 16,265 
			      
			 2014     
			 January 1,046,875 241,727 536,348 38,947 
		
	
	
		
			 February 946,677 138,250 529,496 12,458 
			 March 934,054 133,878 302,627 44,219 
			 April 864,231 17,558 190,423 18,783 
			 May 899,711 226,815 251,680 23,591 
			 1Gaps in financial data are due to delayed billing cycles and inaccurate consumption estimates made by the supplier. 
		
	
	The core Department’s electricity is purchased via the Crown Commercial Service energy framework from renewable sources, and is therefore exempt from the climate change levy.

Internet: Bullying

Chris Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what steps he is taking to tackle cyber-bullying; and what resources his Department provides to charities which address this issue.

Edward Timpson: The Government believe that internet providers, schools and parents all have a role to play in keeping children and young people safe online.
	All schools must have a behaviour policy which includes measures to prevent all forms of bullying, including cyberbullying. The ‘Keeping Children Safe in Education’ guidance outlines the importance of tackling cyberbullying, which can be found online at:
	http://www.anti-bullyingalliance.org.uk/schools-the-wider-sector/cyberbullying.aspx
	Schools have the flexibility to develop their own measures to prevent and tackle bullying, but are held to account by Ofsted.
	The Government recognise that educating young people about online safety is key to tackling cyberbullying. As part of changes to the new computing programmes of study which will be taught from September 2014, e-safety will be taught at all four key stages. This will empower young people to tackle cyberbullying through responsible, respectful and secure use of technology, as well as ensuring that pupils understand age-appropriate ways of reporting any concerns they may have about what they see or encounter online.
	The new curriculum also offers opportunities to tackle the underlying causes of bullying; for example the new citizenship programme of study sets out a requirement for pupils to be taught about the diverse national, regional, religious and ethnic identities in the United Kingdom and the need for mutual respect and understanding.
	The Department for Education is providing £4 million of funding over two years from 2013 to four anti-bullying organisations: Beatbullying, the Diana Award, Kidscape and the National Children’s Bureau consortium. While this funding has been awarded to specific projects to reduce bullying in general this can, and does, include work to tackle cyberbullying.
	The Department has produced case studies showing good practice in how to manage behaviour and bullying. These include a case study about how a school deals with cyber-bullying. Also through funding provided by the Department the Anti-Bullying Alliance has produced specific advice on cyberbullying for children and young people with special educational needs and or disabilities. We provide a link to this in our own advice on preventing and tackling bullying.
	Government Ministers have regular meetings with internet providers, social media platforms and search engines on matters related to internet safety, including cyber-bullying. Ministers from the Department for Education, Home Office and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport also co-chair the UK Council for Child Internet Safety (UKCCIS) which brings together a range of experts across Government, law enforcement, industry, academia and charities to consider the best ways to minimise the risk of harm to children when online.
	In July 2013 the Prime Minister announced measures to support parents to install free and easy to use internet filters which can block access to harmful websites. The Internet Service Providers (ISPs) have now rolled out easy to use filtering to all new customers and will confirm that, by the end of 2014, 95% of all homes with an existing internet connection will be required to choose whether to switch on a whole home family friendly internet filter. The filters are constantly being refined and updated by the ISPs to keep families as safe as possible in the fast changing digital world. The ISPs have also announced a new £25 million internet safety campaign over three years that will reach out to millions of parents on how best to protect their children and make good use of filters.

Pearson VUE

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Education if he will make an assessment of the performance of Pearson VUE in delivering skills tests for prospective teachers on behalf of his Department.

David Laws: As the current contractor delivering the skills test for prospective teachers, Pearson VUE reports weekly to officials on day-to-day delivery against agreed service levels. Pearson VUE is also appropriately engaged in handover of the service to the new contractor.

Pearson VUE

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what Pearson VUE's process is for appealing test results and complaints procedure.

David Laws: Pearson VUE operates a skills test helpline through which candidates' queries and complaints are managed. There is no appeals process against test results.
	If a candidate considers that there was a technical or administrative error with the delivery of the test or marking, they are able to raise this either at the test centre at the time of the test or subsequently via the skills test helpline.
	All such requests are considered on a case-by-case basis by Pearson VUE. Where appropriate, Pearson VUE escalates appeals to the Standards and Testing Agency to make the final determination.

Pearson VUE

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Education which office in his Department or its arm’s length bodies has responsibility for the oversight of outsourcing QTS numeracy and skills tests to Pearson VUE.

David Laws: The skills tests for prospective teachers were developed under a contract let by the Training and Development Agency for Schools (TDA) to Pearson VUE in 2009. The Teaching Agency took over responsibility for oversight of contract management in 2012 when the TDA was abolished. Since November 2013, responsibility has rested with the Standards and Testing Agency, an executive agency of the Department for Education.

Pupils: Bullying

David Crausby: To ask the Secretary of State for Education if he will make it his policy to record cases of bullying as reported by victims in schools by counts of cyber-bullying and similar sub-categories.

Elizabeth Truss: There is no legal requirement on schools to record and report incidents of bullying and we have no plans to introduce one. Schools are free to develop their own approaches to monitoring bullying and exercise their own judgment as to what will work best for their pupils. For some schools, this will involve formal recording of incidents so that they can monitor bullying and identify where it is recurring between the same pupils. Alternatively, some schools may prefer to take a different approach, such as surveying their pupils anonymously to identify trends in bullying, including how safe young people feel at school.
	Schools are held clearly to account by Ofsted for pupil behaviour and safety which includes how they tackle bullying. Inspectors consider the types, rates and patterns of bullying and the effectiveness of the school’s actions to prevent and tackle all forms of bullying and harassment, including cyber-bullying.

Teachers

Debbie Abrahams: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what assessment he has made of retention rates of qualified teachers.

David Laws: The Department for Education will publish statistics on teacher retention in late July as additional tables to the Statistical First Release “School Workforce in England, November 2013”, which is available at:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-workforce-in-england-november-2013

Teachers: Qualifications

Debbie Abrahams: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what assessment he has made of the number of children who are taught by unqualified teachers.

David Laws: The information requested is not collected by the Department.

Teachers: Recruitment

Tristram Hunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many trainee (a) English, (b) mathematics, (c) all sciences, (d) general science, (e) biology, (f) chemistry, (g) physics, (h) ICT, (i) design and technology, (j) modern languages, (k) geography, (l) history, (m) art and design, (n) music, (o) physical education, (p) religious education, (q) business studies, (r) citizenship, (s) 14 to 19 diploma subjects, (t) other subjects, (u) secondary and (v) primary school teachers were recruited through (i) Teach First, (ii) School Direct (salary), (iii) School Direct (fee), (iv) other EBITT, (v) HEI-led and (vi) in total in (a) 2011-12 and (B) 2012-13; and what proportion of his Department's supply targets the number recruited in each category represents.

David Laws: The data held by the Department on initial teacher training (ITT) recruitment are contained within the ITT Census.
	The ITT Census contains data on recruitment to courses and routes, but does not include Teach First (TF) for 2012-13.
	Supply targets are included in the ITT Census publications, but are only generated at overall subject level and do not include TF numbers for the years in question.
	The ITT Census for 2011-12 and 2012-13 is published online:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/statistics-teacher-training#performance-data
	Teach First recruitment for 2011-12 and 2012-13 was as follows:
	
		
			  2011/12 2012/13 
			 English 199 226 
			 Maths 175 191 
			 Sciences 129 193 
			 ICT 20 18 
			 D&T 10 5 
			 ML 45 77 
			 Geography 14 26 
			 History 30 40 
			 Music 15 13 
			 RE 19 15 
			 Business Studies 22 13 
			 Citizenship 9 6 
			    
			 Secondary 687 823 
			    
			 Primary 85 174 
			    
			 Total 772 997 
		
	
	Only those subjects shown above were included in the Teach First programme.

Teachers: Recruitment

Tristram Hunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many trainee (a) English, (b) mathematics, (c) all sciences, (d) general science, (e) biology, (f) chemistry, (g) physics, (h) ICT, (i) design and technology, (j) modern languages, (k) geography, (l) history, (m) art and design, (n) music, (o) physical education, (p) religious education, (q) business studies, (r) citizenship, (s) 14 to 19 diploma subjects, (t) other subjects, (u) secondary and (v) primary school teachers were recruited through (i) Teach First, (ii) EBITT, (iii) HEI-led and (iv) in total in (A) 2010-11 and (B) 2011-12; and what proportion of his Department's supply targets the number recruited in each category in each year represents.

David Laws: The data held by the Department on initial teacher training (ITT) recruitment are contained within the ITT Census.
	The ITT Census contains data on recruitment to courses and routes.
	Supply targets are included in ITT Census publications, but are only generated at overall subject level and do not include Teach First numbers for the years in question.
	The ITT Census for 2010-11 and 2011-12 is published online:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/statistics-teacher-training#performance-data
	Teach First recruitment was as follows:
	
		
			  2010/11 2011/12 
			 English 161 199 
			 Maths 129 175 
			 Sciences 84 129 
			 ICT 12 20 
			 D&T 3 10 
			 ML 36 45 
			 Geography 20 14 
			 History 22 30 
			 Art and Design 3  
			 Music 7 15 
			 RE 14 19 
			 Business Studies 23 22 
			 Citizenship 27 9 
			    
			 Secondary 541 687 
			    
			 Primary 19 85 
			    
			 Total 560 772 
		
	
	Only those subjects shown above were included in the Teach First programme.

Teachers: Recruitment

Tristram Hunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many trainee (a) English, (b) mathematics, (c) all sciences, (d) general science, (e) biology, (f) chemistry, (g) physics, (h) ICT, (i) design and technology, (j) modern languages, (k) geography, (l) history, (m) art and design, (n) music, (o) physical education, (p) religious education, (q) business studies, (r) citizenship, (s) 14 to 19 diploma subjects, (t) other subjects, (u) secondary and (v) primary school teachers were recruited through (i) Teach First, (ii) EBITT, (iii) HEI-led and (iv) in total in (A) 2009-10 and (B) 2010-11; and what proportion of his Department's supply targets the number recruited was in each category in each year represents.

David Laws: The data held by the Department on initial teacher training (ITT) recruitment are contained within the ITT Census.
	The ITT Census contains data on recruitment to courses and routes.
	Supply targets are included in ITT Census publications, but are only generated at overall subject level and do not include Teach First numbers for the years in question.
	The ITT Census for 2010-11 is published online:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/statistics-teacher-training#performance-data
	The data for 2009-10 recruitment are published in: ‘Additional tables 2: SFR06/2011’:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-workforce-in-england-november-2010-provisional
	These data do not contain supply target figures.
	Teach First recruitment was as follows:
	
		
			  2009/10 2010/11 
			 English 119 161 
			 Maths 90 129 
			 Sciences 103 84 
			 ICT 15 12 
			 D&T 7 3 
			 ML 25 36 
			 Geography 17 20 
			 History 20 22 
			 Art & Design 7 3 
			 Music 7 7 
			 RE 12 14 
			 Business Studies 10 23 
			 Citizenship 26 27 
			 Secondary 458 541 
			 Primary 27 19 
			    
			 Total 485 560 
		
	
	Only those subjects listed above were included in the Teach First programme.

Teachers: Retirement

Debbie Abrahams: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what the average retirement age was for teachers in each of the last five years for which figures are available.

David Laws: The average age at which teachers in publicly-funded schools in England drew their retirement benefits in every year between 2008-09 and 2012-13 was 59.

Teachers: Training

Tristram Hunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many teacher training places were allocated in (a) English, (b) mathematics, (c) all sciences, (d) general science, (e) biology, (f) chemistry, (g) physics, (h) ICT, (i) design and technology, (j) modern languages, (k) geography, (l) history, (m) art and design, (n) music, (o) physical education, (p) religious education, (q) business studies, (r) citizenship, (s) 14 to 19 diploma subjects, (t) other subjects and in all (u) secondary and (v) primary schools across all initial teacher training pathways in (i) 2009-10, (ii) 2010-11, (iii) 2011-12 and (iv) 2012-13.

David Laws: The Department did not allocate places directly to primary or secondary schools in 2009-10, 2010-11 and 2011-12. Places were allocated to accredited initial teacher training (ITT) providers and it is their responsibility to arrange school placements.
	For 2012-13, School Direct allocations were assigned to lead schools. This was published alongside all other ITT allocations by the Training and Development Agency. School Direct places are as follows.
	
		
			 School Direct places 2012-13 
			   Number 
			 Primary Primary (all specialisms) 121 
			    
			 Priority secondary Chemistry 87 
			  Mathematics 151 
			  Modern languages 87 
			  Physics 82 
			    
			 Non-priority secondary Art and design 9 
			  Biology 15 
			  Dance 1 
			  Drama 8 
			  Economics 2 
			  English 93 
			  Geography 10 
			  History 29 
			  Music 10 
			  Physical education 25 
			  Religious education 10 
			  Applied business 1 
			  Applied ICT 1 
			  Business studies 3 
			  Design and technology 11 
			  General or combined science 3 
			  Health and social care 2 
			  ICT 7 
			  Psychology 3 
			  Social sciences (except economics) 1 
			 Total secondary  651 
			    
			 Grand total  772

Universal Credit

Chris Bryant: To ask the Secretary of State for Education if he will estimate the cost to the public purse of extending entitlement to school clothing grants via (a) vouchers and (b) cash or cheque to all claimants of universal credit once universal credit has been fully rolled out.

David Laws: There is no national school clothing grant operating currently in England.
	Individual local authorities and academies may choose to provide school clothing grants or to help with the cost of school clothing in cases of financial hardship. In such cases, it is for the local authority or academy concerned to decide the criteria upon which pupils are entitled to this support. Local authorities and academies which choose to run such schemes must do so from within their existing delegated budgets.

Universal Credit

Chris Bryant: To ask the Secretary of State for Education if he will estimate the cost to the public purse of extending entitlement to free early education to all claimants of universal credit once universal credit has been fully rolled out.

Elizabeth Truss: Government-funded early education for three and four-year-olds is already a universal entitlement, so there would be no cost of extending the entitlement. Universal credit will be fully rolled out in the next Parliament, and spending decisions for that period have not been taken. This means it is, therefore not possible to estimate the potential cost on early learning for two-year-olds.